High-stakes testing and students with disabilities: Challenges and promises

The use of high-stakes testing has become an increasingly popular assessment for schools to use in demonstrating individual academic performance of students, and providing accountability for school im-provement. Given the potential negative consequences associated with mandatory testing (e.g., grade re-tention, withholding of high school diplomas, labeling failing schools), students, parents, and school districts all bear significant risks based upon student test scores. The historically poor performance of students with disabilities on these assessments has raised concerns over minimum standards, permis-sible test modifications, and alternate assessments. The authors provide a review of recent research lit-erature, legislation, and court decisions pertaining to the use of high-stakes testing for students with special needs in support of: (a) federal legislation (i.e., No Child Left Behind and Individual With Dis-abilities Education Act), (b) Mandatory Competency Exams to determine grade promotion, and (c) Mandatory Exit Exams to meet graduation requirements. NCLB & IDEA 2004 NCLB has served as the most expansive role of the federal gov-ernment in educational matters. Bump (2005) believes that NCLB is an aggressive legislative measure because it impose