High-Stakes Tests and Students with Disabilities

Federal statutes require states to establish high educational standards and to create and administer standards-based assessments for all students, including those with disabilities. Although states can include most students with disabilities in these tests by providing them with accommodations, including students for whom these adaptations are insufficient to allow for meaningful participation in the tests has been more difficult. When designing and administering these tests, policy-makers must guard against unfairly denying educational opportunities to any student in an effort to set higher standards for the general population. Alternate assessments must be based on the individualized goals and objectives of each student who requires such an assessment in order to comply with constitutional requirements and nondiscrimination policies.