Inclusion a Nettlesome Issue for NAEP Officials

Policy board weighs ELL, spec. ed. aims

The latest round of testing for the National Assessment of Educational Progress wrapped up last week, but the board that sets policy for the test known as "the nation's report card" is still grappling with issues related to expanding participation of students with disabilities and students learning English.

At a March 1 meeting, board members learned that their recently adopted policy aimed at reducing the number of students excluded from taking the assessment could make it hard to compare results from year to year. Trend data are among the most important pieces of NAEP.

The National Center for Education Statistics , which administers the tests, plans to follow the method for calculating scores that it has used in the past, even though that...