Abstract
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) flexibility requires states to develop and implement teacher effectiveness measures that consider student assessment results, including assessment results for students with disabilities participating in general and alternate assessments. We describe how alternate assessment results for students with significant cognitive disabilities could appropriately be used in teacher effectiveness measures. In addition, we discuss the unique parameters faced by teachers serving students with significant cognitive disabilities that may warrant a multiple measures approach to evaluating teacher effectiveness. Using one of the two national initiatives presently developing alternate assessments based on the Common Core State Standards as an example, we describe how these new assessments might be applied in measuring teacher effectiveness. Finally, we offer implications for both policy makers and practitioners in measuring teacher effectiveness for teachers serving students with significant cognitive disabilities participating in alternate assessments.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 20-35 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 2015 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (H373X100002, Project Officer: Susan.Weigert@ed.gov ).
Publisher Copyright:
©2015 The Author(s).
Keywords
- Alternate assessments
- Multiple measures
- Severe disabilities
- Teacher effectiveness
