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Historical Background: Testing Timeline

For many decades the federal government, state legislatures, state education agencies and local school districts have set polices regarding educational assessment.

1965: Congress passes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which originally required all children in the Title I program to be tested annually in every grade to determine if they made progress during the school year.

1994: The Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994 (IASA) added a new component to the ESEA. This law shifted the focus of testing from individual student gains to looking at collective performance of all students against state standards, and required that valid and reliable tests be administered in reading/language arts and mathematics at least once in each of three grade spans: 3-5, 6-9 and 10-12.

1995: Congress enacts the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and requires that states provide a free appropriate public education to children with disabilities in the least restrictive environment (LRE), and empowers parents and the local educational agency to make appropriate decisions about what constitutes LRE for students with disabilities to maximize the child’s benefit from special education and related services.

1997: Congress reauthorizes IDEA and requires that students with disabilities be included in district and state assessments and that special education funding depends on public reporting of the participation and performance of students with disabilities in these assessments.

2001: Congress reauthorized the ESEA as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). NCLB built on IASA by requiring testing in grades 3-8 and once in high school and required “proficiency” as defined by the state by 2014 for reading/language arts and mathematics, and required testing for science in the three grade spans. NCLB also required testing of reading proficiency and English language acquisition for English language learners.

2004: President George W. Bush signs the Assistive Technology Act of 2004 to ensure that individuals with disabilities have access to the technology they need to help them be independent in school, at home, at work and in the community.

2004: Congress reauthorizes IDEA with the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act of 2004. This law is designed to improve learning outcomes for infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities. This legislation mandates that states must establish Performance Goals and Indicators for all students; that students with disabilities must be included in adequate yearly progress accountability systems; addressed in graduation and drop out rates and that educational goals and standards for students with disabilities must be consistent with those of their non-disabled peers. The legislation required that students with disabilities be included in statewide assessments and required states to develop accommodation guidelines and provide alternate assessments for students who cannot participate in traditional statewide tests. IDEA 2004 also requires that reports on student performance must be made public and must include the number of students participating in traditional assessments, the number using accommodations, and the number participating in alternate assessments.

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Testing Provisions in NCLB

Adequate Yearly Progress. NCLB requires states and school districts to make “adequate yearly progress” (AYP) to ensure that all students are proficient by 2014. In defining adequate yearly progress, each state sets the minimum levels of improvement – measurable in terms of student performance – that school districts and schools must achieve within time frames specified in the law. Schools and school districts that fail to meet state-defined levels of adequate yearly progress must take a variety of corrective actions, depending on how long they have been in need of improvement.

Annual Testing. AYP is measured through annual testing. NCLB requires annual testing in reading/language arts and mathematics, in each of grades 3-8 and once at the high school level. Science was also recently added, and states are required to implement science assessments by the 2007–2008 school year in one grade in each of the three grade spans: 3–5, 6–9 and 10–12.

State Administration of Tests. The NCLB Act directs states to design their own annual tests, aligned to their own academic content and achievement standards. Each state’s assessment plan is then approved by the U.S. Department of Education.

Achievement Levels. States must set at least three levels of passing scores (basic, proficient and advanced) for what students are supposed to know and be able to do.

Annual Report Cards. The law also requires states and school districts to report student performance for all students combined, and also requires separately reported performance by specific subgroups in annual, public report cards. Subgroups include race, ethnicity, gender, disability status, migrant status, English proficiency status and disadvantaged economic status.


Links:

U.S. Department of Education

Facts and Terms Every Parent Should Know about NCLB (Department of Education)

The Four Pillars of NCLB (Department of Education)

IDEA 2004 News, Information and Resources (Department of Education):

Thurlow, M.L., Elliot, J.L, Ysseldyke, J.E. (2003). Testing students with disabilities:
Practical strategies for complying with district and state regulations (2nd ed).
Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, Inc

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