What challenges do states face developing alternate assessment programs?
The challenges that lie before states are daunting. The students who are to be alternately assessed are more diverse in their disabilities and learning needs than those students who do not require such assessments. In addition, these students have traditionally not been assessed on external assessments of standards-based academic knowledge and skills, so that states (and local school systems) have little or no experience in devising appropriate academic achievement assessments. The emphasis in the collection of information about these students’ learning has been on the individual present levels of functioning prompted by the goals and objectives of the IEP, not external standards that are viewed as appropriate for all students. In too many cases, the result has been that students with disabilities are taught isolated functional skills, rather than the broader academic skills (perhaps through referencing and using functional skills as a starting point).
