Characteristics of Students Who Take an Alternate Assessment Based on Modified Achievement Standards

Abstract

Alternate assessments based on modified achievement standards (AA-MAS) are designed to measure the academic achievement of students with disabilities who are not expected to reach grade-level standards but who do not qualify for alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS). This article describes the 2010 participants of one state’s AA-MAS. AA-MAS test-takers included a higher proportion of males than were recorded for the general test, and they were more likely than other students with disabilities to be of minority ethnicity, to be English language learners, and to experience poverty. AA-MAS participants were representative of groups who are more likely than average to drop out of school due to these risk factors. Understanding the characteristics of these students will be crucial as the Common Core State Standards are widely adopted and new assessments are created to measure these standards without special testing considerations for this population.