ABSTRACT
The 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA ’97)
contain powerful declarations pertaining to the participation of students with disabilities
in large-scale testing. The reauthorized legislation mandated that “Children with
disabilities are included in general state and district-wide assessment programs with
appropriate accommodations where necessary” (IDEA, Section 612 (a)(17)(A). Although
IDEA ’97 requires participation, the “IDEA legislation and regulations provide little
guidance on the particulars of assessment accommodations for students with disabilities”
(Henry, 1999, p. 32). Henry concluded that “the IDEA legislation and regulations contain
a key word when referencing accommodation and modification: appropriate. But
language defining just what is or is not appropriate is absent and we are left to use
professional judgment as to what constitutes good practice” (p. 33). Besides IDEA ‘97,
multiple legal mandates exist that decree participation of students with disabilities in
standards-based curriculum, instruction, and assessment with appropriate
accommodations and modifications. For an elegant discussion of those legal mandates,
see Phillips’ chapter (chap. 6) in this volume.
