Page 79 - Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting in Ontario Schools. First Edition, Covering Grades 1 to 12. 2010

CHAPTER 7 | students with special education needs: modifications, accommodations, and alternative programs
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STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL EDUCATION NEEDS
For some students, alternative programs/courses might be provided in addition to subjects/ courses that are based on modified or regular grade-level expectations from the Ontario curriculum. For a small percentage of students, the student’s entire program/course may comprise alternative learning expectations.
Alternative learning expectations should be measurable and should specify the knowledge and/or skills that the student should be able to demonstrate independently, given the provision of appropriate accommodations. Planning for the assessment and evaluation of a student’s learning should be incorporated in the development of each alternative learning expectation. The student’s achievement of the alternative learning expectations outlined in the IEP should be assessed and evaluated using a variety of methods.
In most cases, it is neither required nor advisable to assign letter grades or percentage marks on the report cards to represent the student’s achievement of alternative learning expectations. However, in some cases, when evaluation is based on a clearly articulated assessment tool (e.g., a rubric), a letter grade or percentage mark may be assigned in a course, subject, and/or strand.
Student achievement may be reported to parents by means of anecdotal comments noted in the progress report cards (elementary) and provincial report cards (elementary/secondary) or in an alternative format (e.g., in the evaluation section of the IEP). When an alternative format is used, it should accompany the progress report card or the provincial report card at the regular reporting times.
Provincial Large-Scale Assessments
Accommodations for provincial large-scale assessments5 are identified in the student’s IEP. As noted in the “Policy” section, above, they need to be consistent with the accommodations required for regular classroom assessment and evaluation, as indicated in the IEP, and be permitted by the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO). The wording used in the IEP to describe accommodations for provincial large-scale assessments should be consistent with the wording used in the EQAO documents.
Possible accommodations include adjustments in scheduling, changes in setting, the use of assistive devices, and adjustments to the presentation and response formats used in the assessments. Information on permitted accommodations can be found in the following EQAO documents:
• for the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test: The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test. Guide for Accommodations, Special Provisions, Deferrals, and Exemptions: Support for Students With Special Education Needs and English Language Learners
• for the Grade 9 assessment of mathematics: Guide for Accommodations and Special Provisions
• for the Primary Division (Grades 1–3) and Junior Division (Grades 4–6) assessments of reading,
writing, and mathematics: Guide for Accommodations, Special Provisions and Exemptions 5. See Appendix 1 for a discussion of provincial, national, and international large-scale assessments.
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