1995 Report Process Used to Review State Policies

The purpose of this document is to provide an updated listing of the states' written guidelines on the participation of students with disabilities in assessments as well as accommodations, modifications, and adaptations of assessments for students with disabilities. States without guidelines in the 1993 report, or with guidelines older than 1991, were contacted via telephone, and requests were made for their most recent written guidelines. Accommodations guidelines currently in use were provided by 38 states (see Figure 1). Of those not providing currently used accommodations guidelines, seven did not have state assessments (thus, no need for guidelines), and five states did not have written guidelines on accommodations even though they had assessments (Alaska, Montana, Rhode Island, Utah, and West Virginia). Participation guidelines were provided by 42 states. Two states (Montana, West Virginia) did not send updates for the guidelines we had. Thus, there are currently 43 states that have and are using guidelines on the participation of students with disabilities in statewide assessments (see Figure 1). The seven other states were either ones without state assessments or ones where the state assessment was not being implemented:

For informational purposes, the guidelines used in California before its assessment was suspended are included in this document.