Task Module Assessment System
Goal 3: Based on study findings, conceptualize and recommend core components of an assessment structure that would lessen the gaps in the assessment system and allow more students to effectively demonstrate what they know and can do
Building on lessons learned from the studies in Goals 1 and 2, the New England Compact will develop a series of large-scale assessment design recommendations for reducing the gaps in the assessment system. Based on early findings from the research process, preliminary recommendations are that an assessment system that supports students in the gap should be developed as an extension to the current assessment system rather than exist as a totally separate system. This extended system should consist of the following components:
| Assessment | Target Students | Academic Achievement Standards |
|---|---|---|
| General large-scale assessment (existing) | General and special education students who do not use accommodations | Grade-level standards |
| Large-scale assessment with accepted accommodations (existing) | General and special education students who use accommodations | Grade-level standards |
| Large-scale assessment with progressive scaffolding (new) | Students “in the gap” for whom current assessments do not adequately measure what they know and can do | Grade-level standards |
| Alternate assessment (existing) | Students with significant cognitive disabilities who participate in alternate assessment with alternate academic achievement standards | Alternate standards |
**Note: Conversations are ongoing at the state and federal level about a modified assessment at grade-level standards for a small percentage of students. This chart will be updated to reflect changes in assessment systems as they occur.
The new component should be constructed by using varying degrees of scaffolds or accommodations, such that different students (except for those with significant cognitive disabilities taking the alternate assessment) all take a common assessment but with differing levels of support. In order to better understand the nature of these proposed assessment scaffolds and accommodations, the Project is conducting an in-depth literature review of instructional practices, scaffolds, and accommodations in mathematics instruction for middle school students with learning disabilities, mild cognitive disabilities, and for English language learners. This will accompany the proposals for assessment structures.
This study will conclude with a policy brief recommending this assessment system design approach.