This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Johnson, E. Articles by Brown, S. O. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Johnson, E. Articles by Brown, S. O. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

American Sign Language as an Accommodation During Standards-Based Assessments

University of Washington

Kathy Kimball

University of Washington

Shawn Olson Brown

University of Washington

In many states, standards-based education reform includes high-stakes assessment of children. Due to increasing pressure from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to include all children in state and district standards and assessments, many states have developed testing accommodation policies for special populations. In this study, we report specific challenges to the inclusion of deaf and hard of hearing students in the Washington State Assessment of Student Learning and the accountability system. One of the unanswered questions is whether the use of American Sign Language as an accommodation impacts the validity of standards-based assessments. The data from this study suggest that sign language use as an accommodation presents political, practical, and psychometric challenges. In particular, sign language translation can result in the omission of pertinent information required to answer a test item correctly. The authors make practical suggestions for leaders and test administrators about implementing accommodations.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. W. Cawthon and Online Research Lab Accommodations Use for Statewide Standardized Assessments: Prevalence and Recommendations for Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing J. Deaf Stud. Deaf Educ., January 1, 2008; 13(1): 55 - 96. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. W. Cawthon National Survey of Accommodations and Alternate Assessments for Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing in the United States J. Deaf Stud. Deaf Educ., July 1, 2006; 11(3): 337 - 359. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. Johnson and B. Monroe Simplified Language as an Accommodation on Math Tests Assessment for Effective Intervention, January 1, 2004; 29(3): 35 - 45. [Abstract] [PDF]