In conjunction with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997 (IDEA), the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 (NCLB) calls for specific enhancements to existing assessment and accountability systems within definite timelines. The NCLB Act also stresses the use of reliable and valid data for decision making. The purpose of this study was to examine the consequential validity of the alternate assessment system in one Midwestern state. Three hundred and four teachers completed a survey designed to measure their perceptions of the alternate assessments influence on instruction and to see where future training might need to focus in order to improve instruction and alternate assessment results. Findings indicate the alternate assessment influenced instruction to a greater degree than Individualized Education Plan development. A longitudinal analysis of the scoring distribution for alternate assessment results from the 1997-2002 school years was also conducted. Findings and implications are discussed. An appendix contains the teacher survey. (Contains 2 figures and 39 references.) (SLD)