An Analysis of Three States' Alignment between Language Arts and Mathematics Standards and Alternate Assessments

Abstract

Recent guidelines for No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB; 2001) permit the use of alternate achievement standards for counting up to 1% of students with significant cognitive disabilities as proficient in adequate yearly progress (AYP) calculations. This provision increases the importance of assessing the technical quality of alternate assessments and their alignment to academic content standards. This study used a quantitative method of alignment to estimate the match between three states' alternate assessments and their state academic content standards. The results indicate that alternate assessments are aligned to academic content standards, but alternate assessments only capture a narrow range and depth of the content standards. Recommendations for using alignment procedures to address critical elements in Title I as amended by NCLB are discussed.