Students with Disabilities and Statewide Assessment

Federal and state special education legislation requires that all students with disabilities participate in state and district assessments. Specifically, the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) states, "All children with disabilities are included in all general State and district-wide assessment programs, including assessments described under section IIII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, with appropriate accommodation and alternate assessments, where necessary and as indicated in their respective individualized education programs." The reauthorized IDEA specifies that alternate assessment is to be provided for the small number of students with disabilities for whom the standardized assessment is inappropriate even with accommodations. At present, the statewide assessment system, the Wisconsin Student Assessment System (WSAS), includes the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examinations (WKCE) for grades 3-8 and 10 and the Wisconsin Alternate Assessment for Students with Disabilities (WAA-SwD).

Since the 1997 reauthorization of IDEA, the Special Education Team has been working in conjunction with the Office of Educational Accountability to formulate state policy regarding the inclusion of students with disabilities in statewide assessments. Listed below are links to several recent publications by the Department regarding statewide assessment and students with disabilities. The Department recognizes that educators and parents alike have many questions regarding the implementation and implications of the legislative changes for the education of all students. As such, the Department has compiled a matrix (PDF) to assist districts with state-wide assessment. This includes general guidelines for all students and accommodations for students with disabilities/Section 504 students. Additional resources and training will be forthcoming and will be posted on this site as they are released. We encourage you to periodically return to this page to see what's new!

Policy Statements/Information

• Assessment Accommodations Matrix for 2009-10 (07/09)
• Adequate Yearly Progress
• Guidelines to Facilitate the Participation of Students with Special Needs in State Assessments
• Information on Alternate Assessment
• Extended Grade Band Standards

Training Materials/Resources

• Participation Checklist (09/07)
• Resources
• Accommodations for Students with Disabilities on the WKCE, a Mediasite presentation

Links to Related Sites

• Office of Educational Accountability

Test Results

Search the statewide data base on the Web for the latest Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examinations results in table or graph format for your school or any school or district you choose. Statistics are available by gender, race/ethnicity, limited English proficiency, migrant status, disability status, and economically disadvantaged status for the school years 1997-98 through the present. If you have spreadsheet or data base software that can read tab-delimited files, you can also download and analyze an electronic version of the complete statewide results for every public school in the state.

For questions about this information, contact Sandra A. Berndt (608) 266-1785

Last updated on 7/22/2009 8:58:10 AM