Students with Cognitive Impairment Score Well on Alternative Assessments

A majority of Michigan students with cognitive impairment “Surpassed” or “Attained”
performance standards on the state’s alternate assessment, known as MI-Access. More than 19,000 students with disabilities received results of their performances on MI-Access in June 2005. This year, more students Surpassed and Attained the Performance Standard on the assessments than were “Emerging Toward the Performance Standard.”

“In the State Board’s efforts to ensure that the needs of all students are met, this is a remarkable advancement,” said State Board of Education President Kathleen Straus. “These students, their families, their teachers, and their schools now have a more complete set of information with which to evaluate student progress.”

Now in its fourth year of statewide administration, MI-Access offers one way that students with disabilities can participate in the Michigan Educational Assessment System (MEAS). Other ways include the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP), with or without assessment accommodations, and a locally administered English language proficiency assessment for English Language Learners.

“By ensuring that all students have access to meaningful assessment opportunities, we can move the state toward its collective goal of preparing our children—all of them—to function in our advanced, global economy and an increasingly sophisticated society,” Straus added.

Having standardized, statewide assessment data for all students are valuable, according to Chief Academic Officer Dr. Jeremy Hughes. “In the past, we have had considerable gaps in assessment information because assessments like the MEAP aren’t suitable for all students with disabilities. While they are excellent assessments, they do not give students with cognitive impairment a chance to fully demonstrate what they know and are able to do. With MI-Access, our performance data are now much more complete.”

Results from MI-Access assessments are used when calculating district and state participation rates and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) as required under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.

Three types of assessments currently comprise Michigan’s MI-Access alternate assessments: (1) Participation, which is designed for students who have, or function as if they have, severe cognitive impairment; (2) Supported Independence, which is designed for students who have, or function as if they have, moderate cognitive impairment; and (3) Interim Phase 2 BRIGANCE, an “off-the-shelf” commercial assessment customized for Michigan students who have, or function as if they have, mild cognitive impairment.

Because of the student populations involved, the MI-Access Participation and Supported Independence assessments use ratings of student performance. For example, instead of paper and pencil tests, teachers observe students as they carry out a standard set of activities during the course of a typical school day. Then, teachers score the performances using a standardized scoring guide.

Interim Phase 2 BRIGANCE, however, uses multiple choice and extended response questions to ascertain what students with mild cognitive impairment know and are able to do in the content areas of English language arts and mathematics. Teachers administer assessments in a way that reflects the instructional strategies used by teachers and accommodations used by the student during instruction.

In winter 2005, 19,043 students with disabilities in grades 4, 7, 8, and 11 participated in MI-Access. Of that number, 1,313 were assessed with MI-Access Participation; 2,704 were assessed with Supported Independence; 15,026 were assessed with Interim Phase 2 BRIGANCE. Students can reach three levels of achievement, or performance categories: Surpassed, Attained, or Emerging Toward the Performance Standard.

For the Participation and Supported Independence assessments, students do not receive one overall score. Instead, they receive scores for each Performance Expectation (PE) on which they are assessed. Students assessed with Interim Phase 2 BRIGANCE receive one overall score for English language arts and one overall score for mathematics. On this year’s BRIGANCE assessment, between 71 to 82 percent of fourth-, seventh-, and eleventh-grade students Surpassed or Attained the Performance Standards for English language arts. On the mathematics assessment, between 48 to 62 percent of fourth-, eighth-, and eleventh-grade students Surpassed or Attained the Performance Standards.

“When coupled with data from the MEAP assessments, which showed improvements in English language arts, we clearly see that students in Michigan are making progress,” Hughes added. “Because of MI-Access, we now know that to be true, not only of students who take the MEAP assessments, but of all students, including those whose instruction and curriculum are better measured by an alternate assessment.”

For more information, view statewide and district-level MI-Access results at the MI-Access Information Center, www.mi-access.info, through the 2005 MI-Access Media Kit dropdown menu. You can also download The ASSIST newsletter at this site.