National Assessment of Educational Progress Exclusion Rates for Students with Disabilities
Gao ID: GAO-06-194R October 28, 2005
In July 2005, we issued a report entitled No Child Left Behind Act: Most Students with Disabilities Participated in Statewide Assessments, but Inclusion Options Could Be Improved (GAO-05-618) in response to a Congressional request for information about inclusion of students with disabilities in the statewide assessments. We found that most states were including these students in the assessments. In addition, we reviewed the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) data to determine the extent to which students with disabilities were included in this assessment. Also called "The Nation's Report Card," the NAEP has been used to track trends in student achievement over time or to compare student performance in a particular state with the national average. With the assistance of Department of Education (Education) officials, we interpreted that in 2002 five percent of students with disabilities were excluded from the NAEP reading assessment.
Two months after the report's issuance, Education provided us with new information regarding how the NAEP data concerning the exclusion of students with disabilities should be interpreted. In reviewing this information, we determined that the exclusion rate for students with disabilities was much higher than previously reported, with about 40 percent of the students with disabilities who were part of the 2002 NAEP reading assessment sample excluded from the actual testing. In addition, the percentages of students with disabilities who were excluded from the testing varied by grade. For example: 40 percent of students with disabilities were excluded from the grade 4 assessment; 37 percent of students with disabilities were excluded from the grade 8 assessment; and 43 percent of students with disabilities were excluded from the grade 12 assessment. This high exclusion rate underscores the importance of the recommendation in our report that NAEP explore strategies to reduce the number of students with disabilities who are excluded from the assessment.
GAO-06-194R, National Assessment of Educational Progress Exclusion Rates for Students with Disabilities
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October 28, 2005:
The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy:
Ranking Minority Member:
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions:
United States Senate:
Subject: National Assessment of Educational Progress Exclusion Rates
for Students with Disabilities:
Dear Senator Kennedy:
In July 2005, we issued a report entitled No Child Left Behind Act:
Most Students with Disabilities Participated in Statewide Assessments,
but Inclusion Options Could Be Improved (GAO-05-618) in response to
your request for information about inclusion of students with
disabilities in the statewide assessments. We found that most states
were including these students in the assessments. In addition, we
reviewed the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) data to
determine the extent to which students with disabilities were included
in this assessment. Also called "The Nation's Report Card," the NAEP
has been used to track trends in student achievement over time or to
compare student performance in a particular state with the national
average. With the assistance of Department of Education (Education)
officials, we interpreted that in 2002 five percent of students with
disabilities were excluded from the NAEP reading assessment.
Two months after the report's issuance, Education provided us with new
information regarding how the NAEP data concerning the exclusion of
students with disabilities should be interpreted. In reviewing this
information, we determined that the exclusion rate for students with
disabilities was much higher than previously reported, with about 40
percent of the students with disabilities who were part of the 2002
NAEP reading assessment sample excluded from the actual testing. In
addition, the percentages of students with disabilities who were
excluded from the testing varied by grade. For example:
* 40 percent of students with disabilities were excluded from the grade
4 assessment,
* 37 percent of students with disabilities were excluded from the grade
8 assessment, and:
* 43 percent of students with disabilities were excluded from the grade
12 assessment.
This high exclusion rate underscores the importance of the
recommendation in our report that NAEP explore strategies to reduce the
number of students with disabilities who are excluded from the
assessment. Education indicated in its comment letter that it intends
to do a better job of including all students in the assessment.
We provided a draft of this correspondence to Education for review.
Education officials provided technical comments that we incorporated
into the correspondence as appropriate.
For information on the inclusion of students with disabilities in
statewide assessments and NAEP, go to http://www.gao.gov/cgi-
bin/getrpt?GAO-05-618 or call me at (202) 512-7215.
Sincerely yours,
Signed by:
Marnie S. Shaul:
Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issues:
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