Special Topic Area:
Out-of-Level Testing for Students with Disabilities

Introduction

Out-of-level testing typically means that a student who is in one grade is assessed using a level of a test developed for students in another grade. Below-grade-level testing is almost universally what is meant when the terms "out-of-level," "instructional-level," "off-level," or "functional-level" are used.

Historically, out-of-level testing was used to evaluate student outcomes as a means of accounting for federal spending on educational programs in the 1960s and 1970s. It was thought at that time that measuring academic progress - even progress made below a student's grade of enrollment - demonstrated wise use of federal grant money. The advent of standards-based educational reform in the 1990s pushed states to develop large-scale assessments to measure all students' achievement toward on-grade level standards. These test results were used in states' accountability programs to meet the legal mandates of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1994 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997. In time, states learned that large-scale test instruments were not designed to be universally accessible to some students with disabilities. Out-of-level testing re-emerged in some states' large-scale assessment programs to resolve the problem of excluding too many students with disabilities from statewide testing. The use of out-of-level testing in state assessment programs has decreased recently because of federal policies that call for assessment against grade-level academic standards.

Individuals who advocate for out-of-level testing assert that it has the following benefits: (1) out-of-level testing information aligns more closely with the instruction a student is receiving, (2) measurement is more accurate, and (3) testing is less stressful for students. Those who oppose out-of-level testing question whether it provides the benefits that are posited for it and cite the following concerns: (1) out-of-level testing information does not show whether students meet enrolled-grade proficiency requirements, and (2) it harms students by institutionalizing below grade-level expectations.

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This page was last updated on July 15, 2008