Structure of Standardized Testing in K-12 Education.

¶ … structure of standardized testing in K-12 education. As Wisconsin and the federal government need some manner to gauge teacher performance and student progress it falls on educators to find effective means of testing special education students. The WKCE system is discussed with a special emphasis on the alternate testing pathway.

This paper will focus on my experiences dealing with special education testing through the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination. All students are intended to take the WKCE which is created by the Department of Public Instruction and Wisconsin teachers. Students take the test starting in grades 3, 5, 6, and 7. Subject matters includes Reading and Mathematics. In alternating years, students in grades 4, 8, and 10 take tests in Reading, Mathematics, Science, Language Arts, Writing, and Social Studies. WKCE is administered to all the students enrolled in public schools during the fall of each year and determines competency (WDPI, 2011).

The purpose of the WKCE is to provide information about student attainment of subject-area proficiency to students, parents, and teachers, information to support curriculum and instructional planning; and a measure of accountability for schools and districts. The results of the WKCE are used as an accountability measure for school improvement to meet its requirement of identifying low-performing schools and meet the federal Title I requirement to determine how well children are learning, and determine the extent to which schools and districts across the state are meeting state proficiency standards. WKCE scores are used as one of several criteria for advancing students from fourth to fifth grade and from eighth to ninth grade. The other criteria are academic performance, teacher recommendations based on academic performance, and any other academic criteria specified by the local school board.

For students with disabilities, there exists the WKCE with accommodations, which is intended to reduce or eliminate the effects of a student's disability or level of language acquisition; they do not reduce learning expectations. The accommodations provided to a student must be the same for classroom instruction, classroom assessments, and district and state assessments. Although some accommodations may be appropriate for instructional use, they may not be appropriate for use on a standardized assessment. Note, being a student with a disability or an English Language Learner does not change the content being assessed or the skill level (WDPI, 2011). Examples include a large-print test or using a scribe to record answers.

It is important to note that students with major limitations in cognitive functioning, in adaptive behavior, and in academic functioning expressed in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills have the WKCE Alternate Assessment to judge their performance. Often, these students are identified as having a cognitive disability; however, students with some other types of disabilities (e.g., Autism, Traumatic Brain Injury, etc.) may also satisfy the criteria for participation on the WAA-SwD. When determining whether a student who is eligible for special education services should participate in the WAA-SwD or the WKCE, the student's IEP team must determine whether the student meets the following criteria. The restrictions for this form of testing are that: 1) The student's curriculum and daily instruction focuses on knowledge and skills specified in the Extended Grade Band Standards; 2) The student's present level of academic and functional performance significantly impedes participation and completion of the general education curriculum even with significant program modification; 3) The student requires extensive direct instruction to accomplish the acquisition, application, and transfer of knowledge and skills or 4) The student's difficulty with the regular curriculum demands is primarily due to the disability, and is not due to excessive absences unrelated to the disability, or to social, cultural, or environmental factors. When the IEP team concurs that all four criteria accurately characterize a student's current educational situation, then the WAA-SwD should be administered in order to provide a meaningful evaluation of the student's current academic achievement (WDPI, 2011).