ABSTRACT
PAAP Season is the implementation story of Maine’s Personalized Alternate Assessment Portfolio (PAAP). Students previously considered “too disabled” for academics were federally mandated to be assessed on academic standards. Implications were potentially transformative-unsettling historical beliefs about ability and enabling new instructional practice. Results showed remarkable academic gains but missed opportunities as the PAAP changed the content but not the context of teaching students with significant disabilities. Multiple sources of data collected over a decade illustrate how state assessment was used to push change in the status of disabled students from recipients of care and compassion to equity and inclusion. However, policy intent was not uniformly understood, and the strength of existing norms regarding these students was underestimated.
