General Supervision Enhancement Grant (GSEG) - PA Modified Academic Achievement Standards (PA-MAAS)

The Bureau of Special Education and the Bureau of Assessment and Accountability, under the leadership of John Tommasini and Dr. Shula Nedley, received a three-year, $1 million Individuals with Disabilities Education Act General Supervision Enhancement Grant in fall 2007. 

The goal of the grant is to develop Pennsylvania Modified Academic Achievement Standards based on the state's academic content standards for the grade in which the student is enrolled. More than 18,000 students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) from a wide range of disability categories in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 11 could potentially achieve proficient status on an assessment based on the eventual outcome of this project.

The grant will also:

• Develop clear and appropriate guidelines for IEP teams to use in determining which students should be assessed on MAAS and statewide training on those guidelines for IEP teams.
• Provide statewide integrated and coordinated professional development for implementation of standards-based IEPs by all local education agencies (LEAs).
• Ensure that the state assessment system uses Universal Design principles, to the extent possible, based on modified academic achievement standards.

All activities will be coordinated with existing professional development activities and appropriate state and federal resources. A partnership with the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) will provide the additional expertise in implementation.

A State Consortium of the Consequential Validity of Alternate Assessments Based on Alternate Achievement Standards (AA-AAS): A Longitudinal Study

The Pennsylvania Bureaus of Special Education, Teaching and Learning, and Assessment and Accountability, have received a grant to conduct a nine-year longitudinal study of the consequential validity of Alternate Assessments based on Alternate Achievement Standards (AA-AAS). Pennsylvania, in collaboration with state partners Michigan and Wisconsin, and the North Central Regional Resource Center, will adopt a common framework and research processes for evaluation of the alternate assessments' consequential validity.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires that states develop valid assessments of student performance based on academic standards (U.S. Department of Education 2004). States are required to consider the consequences of utilization and interpretation of the alternate assessments by conducting evaluative studies - commonly referred to as "consequential validity." These studies must examine the extent to which AA-AAS produce intended, as well as unintended, effects.