Guidebook to Including Students with Disabilities and English Learners in Assessments

Appendix C
CCSSO Principles for High Quality Assessments: Accessibility

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Principle 4: Provide ACCESSIBILITY to all students, by:

  1. FOLLOWING THE PRINCIPLES OF UNIVERSAL DESIGN: The assessments are developed in accordance with the principles of universal design and sound testing practice, so that the testing interface, whether paper- or technology-based, does not impede student performance.
  2. OFFERING APPROPRIATE ACCOMMODATIONS AND MODIFICATIONS: Allowable accommodations that maintain the constructs being assessed are offered where feasible and appropriate. Decisions about accessibility are based on individual student needs.
  3. ENSURING TRANSPARENCY OF TEST DESIGN AND EXPECTATIONS: Assessment design documents (e.g., item and test specifications) and sample test questions are made publicly available so that all stakeholders understand the purposes, expectations, and uses of the CCR assessments.

Descriptions of evidence for each principle are provided in Criteria for Procuring and Evaluating High-Quality Assessments). They include:

Criteria

Evidence

Following the principles of universal design: The assessments are developed in accordance with the principles of universal design and sound testing practice, so that the testing interface, whether paper- or technology-based, does not impede student performance.

  • A description is provided of the item development process used to reduce construct irrelevance (e.g., eliminating unnecessary clutter in graphics, reducing construct-irrelevant reading load as much as possible), including
  • The test item development process to remove potential challenges due to factors such as disability, ethnicity, culture, geographic location, socioeconomic condition, or gender; and
  • Test form development specifications that ensure that assessments are clear and comprehensible for all students.
  • Evidence is provided, including exemplar tests (paper and pencil forms or screen shots) illustrating principles of universal design.

Offering appropriate accommodations and modifications: Allowable accommodations and modifications that maintain the constructs being assessed are offered where feasible and appropriate, and consider the access needs (e.g., cognitive, processing, sensory, physical, language) of the vast majority of students.

  • A description is provided of the accessibility features that will be available, consistent with state policy (e.g., magnification, audio representation of graphic elements, linguistic simplification, text-to-speech, speech-to-text, Braille).
  • A description is provided of access to translations and definitions, consistent with state policy.
  • A description is provided of the construct validity of the available accessibility features with a plan that ensures that the scores of students who have accommodations or modifications that do not maintain the construct being assessed are not combined with those of the bulk of students when computing or reporting scores.

Assessments produce valid and reliable scores for English learners.

  • Evidence is provided that test items and accessibility features permit English learners to demonstrate their knowledge and abilities and do not contain features that unnecessarily prevent them from accessing the content of the item. Evidence should address: presentation, response, setting, and timing and scheduling (specify sources of data).

Assessments produce valid and reliable scores for students with disabilities.

  • Evidence is provided that test items and accessibility features permit students with disabilities to demonstrate their knowledge and abilities and do not contain features that unnecessarily prevent them from accessing the content of the item. Evidence should address: presentation, response, setting, and timing and scheduling (specify sources of data).