Accessibility for
Michigan’s
Assessments
Region IV Assistive Technology
Consortium Fall Conference
November 14, 2014
Jennifer Paul
paulj@michigan.gov
Agenda
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New national directions in accessibility
Grant work
Guiding accessibility principles
Specific accommodations for spring 2015
Assessment Consortium
• Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium
• WIDA ASSETS Consortium
Shared National Experts
SBAC
PARCC
Jamal Abedi
Derek Briggs
DLM
ASSETS
Jamal Abedi
Jamal Abedi
ELPA21
Derek Briggs
James Pellegrino James Pellegrino
Ed Bosso
Ed Bosso
Kenji Hakuta
Kenji Hakuta
Robert Linquanti
Kenji Hakuta
Robert Linquanti
Martha Thurlow Martha Thurlow
Gary Cook
Gary Cook
GAAP Grant
• Guidelines for Accessible Assessment Project
o www.nimbletools.com/gaap
o Guidelines for how to represent assessment content in audio and sign
form
o Individuals tasked with reading aloud or signing test content rarely see the
test content in advance, thus, content is read aloud or signed on-the-fly
o Creates potential for variation in the content of what’s being tested
o 18 states including Michigan
ATEA Grant
• Accessibility for Technology-Enhanced Assessments
Project
o www.ateaassessments.org
o Guidelines and recommendations for providing accessibility of
technology-enhanced tests for students with vision and motor disabilities
o 8 states including Michigan
o Michigan has 13 teachers scheduled to participate in the item tryouts
ATEA Grant
• Removing inaccessible actions like dragging and
dropping elements
• Replacing these elements with things like radio
buttons or click-to-select interactions
• Creating static alternatives for print and braille test
forms
New Accommodations
Framework
• Universal Tools
• Designated Supports
• Accommodations
New Framework
• Universal tools consistent with universal design
available to all students
• Designated supports available to students but must
be arranged and activated prior to assessment by
an educator or team of educators
• Accommodations assigned and documented by
an IEP or 504 Plan team
Other Guiding Principles
“…assessments can be designed from the beginning
with consideration of all students,”
(Thurlow, Quenemoen, & Lazarus, 2011)
Other Guiding Principles
• Attempt to ensure accessibility to content for the
widest range of students possible
• Ensure constructs are not violated
• Ensure consistency of administration
• Ensure connection between accommodations
used in instruction and assessment
• Accommodations decisions made at the student
level
• Decisions made through a team approach
Construct Relevance &
Validity
Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing:
“Validity refers to the degree to which evidence and
theory support the interpretations of test scores
entailed by proposed uses of tests.”
CAST:
“Construct relevant refers to the factors (e.g. mode of
presentation or response) that are relevant (related)
to the construct that the test is intended to measure.”
Examples
Letter decoding ≠ listening comprehension
Drag and drop requirement for students with physical
disabilities
Technology Enhanced
Items
• New testing mode, new items, new challenges
• Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should
o Increased cognitive demands
o Increased physical demands
Technology Enhanced
Item Examples
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Drag and drop
Graphing
Hot text
Constructed response items
Braille
• Contracted and possibly uncontracted (Math and
ELA only)
• Future transitions:
o Office of Low Incidence Outreach Workshops beginning this fall for UEB
transition
o Contact Collette Bauman at baumanc@michigan.gov
o Accommodation
TTS & Read Aloud
• TTS for Read aloud for ELA reading passages in
grades 6-8 and 11 as an Accommodation
o TTS available for Math and ELA items as a Designated Support
• Blind students in grades 3-8 and 11 who do not yet
have adequate braille skills
Read Aloud
• Text is read aloud to the student by a trained and
qualified human reader who follows the
administration guidelines provided in the Test
Administration Manual. All or portions of the content
may be read aloud.
Recommendations for Use
• TTS & Read Aloud for ELA Passages: Appropriate for
an estimated 1-2% of the population of students
with disabilities participating in the general
assessment
Additional Supports
Color overlay (Designated Support)
Masking (Designated Support)
Magnification (Universal)
For paper-pencil – Enlarged print (Designated
Support)
• Multiplication table (Accommodation)
• Full Spanish translation (Designated Support)
• For paper-pencil – Glossing reference sheets
(Designated Support)
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Additional Supports
• Scratch paper (Universal)
• Calculator
o Only available on items for which it’s allowed
o If students need something like a talking calculator, they may use it
(Accommodation). Heavily reliant on good test administration.
Other Allowable Assistive
Technologies
Alternate response options include but are not limited
to adapted keyboards, large keyboards, StickyKeys,
MouseKeys, FilterKeys, adapted mouse, touch screen,
head wand, and switches.
Future Accommodations
Assignment
• Personal Needs Profile (PNP)
o Assignment of accommodations needed for an assessment through the
MDE Secure Site
• Allows for efficiency in setting up accommodations in the online
delivery system
• Encouraging team approach
• Try to help districts make good decisions about accommodations
Planned Michigan
Resources
• Accommodations manual
o Decision making guidance
o Tables for each content area and mode (online & paper-pencil)
o If it’s not in the manual, e-mail Jen
• Scribing guidelines
o Guidelines for all assessments
o Possible video
• Professional development
o How to make decisions
o How to setup supports in the delivery system
• Practice tests
M-STEP
• Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress
• www.michigan.gov/mde
o  Student Assessment
o  M-STEP Summative
Burning Questions
Jennifer Paul
paulj@michigan.gov