New Title I legislation--the Improving America's Schools Act--mandates that students with disabilities be included in district and statewide assessments beginning in 2001, or immediately, if such assessments already exist. Administrators should include handicapped students in assessments, when in doubt; provide needed accommodations; and report…

The Education Writers Association recently adopted a resolution urging school districts and states to release information on which groups of students are tested and which are excluded when reporting standardized test results. Three authorities on student assessment agree that full disclosure prevents score inflation and holds states and districts…

In this article, the author argues, that with NCLB behind us, IDEA reauthorization in front of us and NAEP report cards and state standards on either side, American education finds itself in the center of an unprecedented confluence of state and federal mandates calling for higher performance accountabilities. The result is an educational analog…

By requiring limited-English-proficient students and students with disabilities to meet the same targets at the same times as all other students, the NCLB imposes a one-size-fits-all approach that ignores the individual child. Challenges school leaders to take care not to blame the students and still hold themselves accountable for continual…

Out-of-level testing in state and district assessments is becoming more popular under the reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This practice (and use of different norm-referenced tests) confounds interdistrict comparisons and contributes to inequitable assessment practices. Proper scaling can remedy this situation. (MLH)