New Toolkit on Teaching and Assessing Students with Disabilities

Dear Colleague:

OSERS Assistant Secretary John Hager and OESE Assistant Secretary Henry Johnson released on Tuesday, April 25, 2006, a "tool kit" designed to assist states in raising the achievement of all students with disabilities. The Tool Kit on Teaching and Assessing Students with Disabilities will support districts and schools in appropriately assessing and instructing students with disabilities to meet the goals of both NCLB and IDEA.

The tool kit provides guidance for assessing the achievement and progress of students with disabilities, and includes a set of technical assistance products produced by OSERS grantees in the areas of assessment, instruction, behavioral interventions and accommodations for students with disabilities. Additionally, the tool kit includes a set of six papers offering research and ideas on including students with disabilities in large-scale assessments. The papers were commissioned by OSERS, and cover such topics such as IEP team decision-making, professional development for educators, standards and assessment approaches, and the validity and reliability of alternate assessments.

As part of the U.S. Department of Education’s distribution plans, each State Commissioner of Education and State Director of Special Education will receive a tool kit. CD versions of the tool kit will be available within the next two weeks. They will be mailed to State Assessment Coordinators and also will be widely disseminated across the nation. The tool kit can be downloaded from an earmarked website at: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/reports.html

The tool kit is a "dynamic process" and as additional information becomes available it will be added to the website. I would be interested in your feedback regarding the tool kit’s usefulness. I would also like to hear your ideas about how the tool kit may assist you in the work you do with state agencies, schools and families.

Finally, please know how much I appreciate the work you do everyday to ensure that students with disabilities are achieving to high standards.

Sincerely,

Alexa Posny, Ph.D.
Director
Office of Special Education
Programs

New Toolkit on Teaching and Assessing Students with Disabilities

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