Virginia's Alternate Assessment Program (VAAP) is a relatively new, but important program for use with students with significant disabilities. An understanding of teachers' perspectives relating to the VAAP as well as its Aligned Standards of Learning (ASOLS) is crucial in understanding teachers' attitudes concerning perceived effectiveness and improved outcomes for students with the most significant disabilities. This mixed methods study addressed the perspectives, practices and attitudes of teachers using the VAAP in one school district in Virginia. The purpose of the study was to examine the implementation of the VAAP from the perspectives of school personnel on instruction of students with severe disabilities in one school district. The specific components of the study included review of: (a) the implementation of "evidenced based best practices," (b) student scores on the VAAP, (c) current curricula and specific teaching practices, and (d) the perceived influence of the degree of severity of the students taking the VAAP. Finally, the study considered teachers' and staff's perceptions of the VAAP with ASOLs and its relationship with instructional practices. The overall findings from the participants in this study include the following: (a) a need for more expertise and improved staff development in the area of instruction for students with severe disabilities; (b) there were no significant differences before or after VAAP with ASOLs implementations on teachers' use of evidenced based best practices; (c) it is unclear whether results of the VAAP inform instructional practices; (d) a clearly established curriculum for students with severe disabilities does not appear to be consistently implemented; (e) the VAAP with ASOLs does not appear to have impacted the majority of teachers' practices for students with severe disabilities; (f) there is disagreement among staff regarding perceptions of the appropriateness of mastery of academic content with the degree of the severity of the student's disability, and (g) both positive and negative perceptions of the VAAP with ASOLs exist among staff in this small school district. Although the VAAP with ASOLs has increased academic expectations for student performance, especially for student with more mild to moderate cognitive disabilities the utility for the most severely cognitively impaired and medically fragile students remains less clear. This study provides a description of how one district is working with the alternative assessment procedures with students with cognitive disabilities. Future research can provide evidence on the effectiveness of the VAAP with ASOLs with students with significant disabilities.

Federal legislation mandates all students, including those with significant cognitive disabilities, participate in standards based education and in state assessments linked to those standards. To address this issue, this study used a multiple case study design in order to determine the impact alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards have on teaching and learning for students with significant cognitive disabilities who participate in these assessments. Specifically, this study examined: (a) the link between the IEP and the state standards, (b) teacher and parent perceptions of standards based instruction and alternate assessment, and (c) how teachers deliver academic content to students who participate in alternate assessment. Data were collected using observations, in-depth interviews, surveys, and a document review. Exemplar cases were selected from schools representing urban, suburban and rural school districts in Georgia. Five middle school special education teachers and five parents of middle school students with moderate and significant levels of intellectual disabilities were participants - creating a teacher/parent/student triad. Each case was involved in standards-based instruction for students with significant cognitive disabilities who participated in the Georgia Alternate Assessment (GAA) during the 2008-09 school-year. Results from this study indicate that parents and teachers have favorable views of academic instruction for students with moderate intellectual disabilities, but some were less sure of the benefit for students with the most significant disabilities. Additionally, parents know little about the alternate assessment itself. Teachers were providing academic instruction that was linked to the state grade level standards and to the GAA, yet many of the teachers continued to maintain separate academic or GAA time and IEP goal/objective time. The document review revealed that little to no linkage was demonstrated between the IEP and the state standards, with most of IEPs containing more functional than academic goals and objectives. The findings of this study have several implications for policy, research and practice, including (a) the need for on-going professional development to assist teachers in developing the necessary skills to adapt grade level standards for inclusion into the IEP and (b) professional development that helps teachers integrate academic activities with IEP activities into more lessons.

There are increasing demands of accountability for improved student achievement, hence the challenges for governments, school systems, and educators to promote the development of teacher preparation and educational practices that assimilate precise strategies and alternate assessment tools for effective use in the classroom. This research study looks at the level and type of preparation given to teachers prior to the administering of the alternate assessment offered to students with significant cognitive disabilities to indicate students contribution to the schools academic progress or failure. Results of this study provide informative guidelines to all stakeholders in the business of training and preparing teachers to become more knowledgeable and efficient and hence demonstrate positive attitude toward this form of assessment.

The purpose of this study was to understand the decision-making process used by IEP teams and case managers for students with significant intellectual disabilities who participate in alternate assessments based on aligned academic achievement standards (AA-AAS). Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with case managers for students participating in the Virginia Alternate Assessment Program (VAAP) from school divisions in central Virginia. Traditional inductive data analysis techniques were used to analyze data collected from the in-depth interviews, the researcher's reflexive field notes and observations, and a review of VAAP training and guidance documents provided by study participants. Findings illuminated the decision-making process of finding students with significant intellectual disabilities eligible to participate in the VAAP and resulted in a visual representation of the decision-making process.

Discover what really works in alternate assessment based on alternate achievement standards. This book gathers cutting-edge knowledge and best practices in seven states to help readers work toward accurate assessment of students with severe disabilities.