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

Publications and Other Out-of-Level Testing Resources

Online resources available at NCEO's Web site (the publications are listed chronologically, with the most recent first; Policy Directions will give a general overview of the issues with other publications providing greater depth):

• States' Procedures for Ensuring Out-of-Level Test Instrument Quality (Out-of Level Testing Report 14) / PDF Version
• Rapid Changes, Repeated Challenges: States' Out-of-Level Testing Policies for 2003-2004 (Out-of-Level Testing Report 13) / PDF Version
• Understanding Out-of-Level Testing in Local Schools: A First Case Study of Policy Implementation and Effects (Out-of-Level Testing Report 11) / PDF Version
• 2003 State Special Education Outcomes: Marching On / PDF format
• Reporting Out-of-Level Test Scores: Are These Students Included in Accountability Programs? (Out-of-Level Testing Report #10) / PDF Version
• Testing Students with Disabilities Out of Level: State Prevalence and Performance Results (Out-of-Level Testing Report #9) / PDF Version
• 2001 State Special Education Outcomes: A Report on State Activities at the Beginning of a New Decade
• Scale Score Comparability Across Two Levels of a Norm-Referenced Math Computation Test for Students with Learning Disabilities (Out-of-Level Testing Report #8)
• A Follow-up Web-based Survey: Test and Measurement Expert Opinions on the Psychometric Properties of Out-of-Level Tests (Out-of-Level Testing Report #7)
• Test and Measurement Expert Opinions: A Dialogue About Testing Students with Disabilities Out of Level in Large-Scale Assessments (Out-of-Level Testing Report #6)
• Testing Students Out of Level in Large-Scale Assessments: What States Perceive and Believe (Out-of-Level Testing Report 5 / 2001)
• A Review of Out-of-Level Testing State Policies (Out-of-Level Testing Report 4 / 2001)
• Test Publishers’ Views on Out-of-Level Testing (Out-of-Level Testing Report 3 / 2000).
• How Out-of-Level Testing Affects the Psychometric Quality of Test Scores (Out-of-Level Testing Report 2 / 2000)
• Past and Present Understandings of Out-of-Level Testing: A Research Synthesis (Out-of-Level Testing Report 1 / 2000)
• Out-of-Level Testing: Pros and Cons (Policy Directions 9 / 1999)
• 1997 State Special Education Outcomes: A Report on State Activities During Educational Reform (1997)
  Please Note: This is a PDF file can only be read by Adobe Acrobat Reader.  (Some figures are not included in the online document.)

Additional Resources

Doscher, M., & Bruno, J. E. (1981). Simulation of inner-city standardized testing behavior: Implications for instructional evaluation. American Educational Research Journal, 18 (4), 475-489.

Plake, B. S., & Hoover, H. D. (1979). The comparability of equal raw scores obtained from in-level and out-of-level testing: One source of the discrepancy between in-level and out-of-level grade equivalent scores. Journal of Educational Measurement, 16 (4), 271-278.

Smith, L. L., & Johns, J. L. (1984). A study of the effects of out-of-level testing with poor readers in the intermediate grades. Reading Psychology: An International Quarterly (5), 139-143.

Wheeler, P. H. (1995). Functional-level testing: A must for valid and accurate assessment results. (EREAPA Publication Series No. 95-2). Livermore, CA: (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 393 915).

Wick, J. W. (1983). Reducing proportion of chance scores in inner-city standardized testing results: Impact on average scores. American Educational Research Journal, 20 (3), 461-463.

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