All students should graduate from high school ready for college, careers, and citizenship.
As school district leaders take steps to address concerns about the volume of student testing through an assessment inventory process such as Achieve’s Student Assessment Inventory for School Districts, they should anticipate that families, teachers, and other important stakeholders will raise particular concerns about the testing associated with special education and related services. Students receiving special education services are a group for whom a special set of assessments may be used. Understanding who students with disabilities are and the assessments that are required for these students is important when addressing questions about the volume of testing. With this foundation, it is possible to address the “too much testing” issue for these students at the same time that the issue is being addressed for students without disabilities. This paper, developed through a partnership with the National Center on Educational Outcomes at the University of Minnesota and Achieve, was developed to provide guidance and recommendations about how to include special education in a comprehensive assessment system and address concerns about too much testing for students with disabilities who receive special education services.