Project Abstract
The purposes of the consortium are to advance the validity of alternate assessment score interpretations and to conduct feasibility studies to inform future assessment practices. Specifically, the consortium of assessment leaders from seven states (AZ, HI, ID, IN, MS, NV, and WI) and measurement experts affiliated with Vanderbilt University and Discovery Education/ThinkLink Learning are collaborating to enhance scientific rigor of alternate assessment validity research through replication, increased samples, and tests of generalization. Each of these states requires additional validity evidence to support their alternate assessment score and usage claims. These states also want to better assess hundreds of students with less severe disabilities and will be investigating item modification strategies to increase accessibility on multiple-choice tests used for NCLB accountability..

To address these needs, each state is (a) conducting a study to enhance evidence for the validity of its existing alternate assessment and (b) participating in experimental field trials to examine the effects of item modifications on accessibility and score comparability for students with disabilities. Idaho’s alternate assessment (IAA) was one of the first approved by the USDOE. Thus, Idaho serves as the lead consortium partner. The validity study each state is conducting replicates a multi-source, multi-method investigation conducted with the IAA to examine its concurrent and construct evidence for a robust sample of students with disabilities. The Vanderbilt measurement group is providing the consortium members research design and analysis resources for their validity studies and training sessions on universal design, alignment practices, and item modification principles for current and future alternate assessments. As a result, each state will be conducting a portion of a multi-state, experimental study examining the effect of item modifications on the testing preferences and test performances of students with and without disabilities.

Over the 18-month project (10-1-06 to 3-31-08), the consortium project will enhance the validity evidence for current alternate assessments, advance understanding of item modifications on score comparability for future alternate assessments, build capacity in each state to conduct future validity studies, and actively disseminate results to other states.