Massachusetts: One State's Approach to Setting Performance Levels on the Alternate Assessment. Synthesis Report.

N

19

Special Education Programs (ED/OSERS), Washington, DC.

H326G000001

NCEO-48

Alternative Assessment; Competency Based Education; Disabilities; Educational Assessment; High Schools; Portfolio Assessment; Scoring Rubrics; Secondary Education; Standards; State Programs; Student Evaluation

This report explains how students with significant disabilities who submit portfolios for the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) Alternate Assessments are evaluated to meet state requirements for a "competency determination" needed to receive a regular high school diploma. The reasoning behind the Massachusetts approach and the ways in which performance levels in each strand are combined to produce an overall performance level is described in this report. Student portfolios are based on "expanded" state standards that describe academic outcomes appropriate for students with significant disabilities. Portfolios contain an array of work samples, instructional data sheets, audio- and videotapes, or other evidence, organized into "portfolio strands." Portfolios are submitted to the state for scoring and designation of a performance level. Following an overview, the report examines the development of alternate assessment in Massachusetts. It then explains standards for counting scores to yield an overall performance level including the analytic rubric used to convert raw scores to performance levels. The final section considers standards for meeting the state's graduation requirements through MCAS Alternative Assessment. (DB)

2003

ED473818