School work is designed to challenge students and help them meet grade-level academic standards. Students with disabilities have the right to learn and participate in the general education curriculum. Public school districts must provide these students with the services, accommodations, and modifications that they need to learn the same material…

Two consequentially related education policy topics in the United States are kindergarten entry assessments (KEAs) and the growing number of students who are "English learners" (ELs). In this study, I compared the content of, and home language use policies for six state KEAs, all of which were comprised of items from the GOLD®…

To get the equitable, student-centered education system that is wanted and needed--one which honors each unique student, and prepares them for the changing 21st century world--we need to rethink not only the design of learning, but also the what and how of assessment. Assessments are used by people in many different roles and in many different…

This article highlights a set of principles and guidelines, developed by a diverse group of specialists in the field, for appropriately including English language learners (ELLs) with disabilities in large-scale assessments. ELLs with disabilities make up roughly 9% of the rapidly increasing ELL population nationwide. In spite of the small overall…

To equitably prepare all students for success in the 21st century, we must define and measure broader, deeper, and more student-centered outcomes for students and schools. In this paper, we review the outcomes that researchers, students, educators, families, and communities indicate are important, and describe the array of emerging strategies for…

This toolkit was created to make transition planning easier and offers easy-to-understand information about the purpose of transition planning, the goal and importance of age-appropriate assessments, and the required rules that are used by schools. It also includes information on the community partners that can provide youth with supports as…

Few matters induce more dialogue among foreign language among educators than the problem of students' transition between levels of language study. Secondary school teachers worry about how best to integrate a diversely prepared freshman population into their curriculum. The aim of this edited volume is to assemble the theory, research, and vision…

Words Work! is an approach to improving literacy outcomes for children through teacher development and parent engagement. In this article the authors describe the pilot phase of the project. The staff at Words Work! created an assessment system that aligns curriculum with assessment and collection of student data and teacher planning. Teachers use…

This booklet is intended to facilitate the full participation of Minnesota parents of children with disabilities in the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process. The booklet begins with a brief discussion of what an IEP is, when IEPs must be in effect, IEP meetings, the IEP team, and parent participation. It next stresses the necessity of…

This report summarizes the comprehensive, written self-assessments comleted by seven Minnesota tech prep consortia. The 1993-94 cohort of consortia was the first group to use the self-assessment. Within each tech prep consortium, the evaluation was completed by cross-district teams of teachers, administrators, and others who had been trained by…

This report contains the comprehensive, written self-assessments completed by 10 Minnesota tech prep consortia. The 1994-95 cohort of consortia was the second group to use the self-assessment. Within each tech prep consortium, the evaluation was completed by cross-district teams of teachers, administrators, and others who had been trained by the…

A project was conducted to develop and pilot test a process for vertically articulating curriculum between the secondary and postsecondary levels of vocational-technical education in Minnesota. Subgoals were to develop and validate a procedure for developing statewide task lists and competency records and to develop a process for teacher and…

This issue of the quarterly publication focuses on Achieving Secondary Education and Transition Results for Students with Disabilities. Editorial introduction notes that today's educational systems are being called upon to re-examine how they prepare students with disabilities for adult life. The shift toward greater participation by students with…