The board that sets policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress planned to take up the topic of test exclusions, particularly Maryland’s, at its quarterly meeting late last week.
Maryland’s scores in 4th and 8th grade reading and math between 2011 and 2013 were above the national average. But the state also excluded 62 percent of 4th graders with disabilities and English-language learners from taking the reading test, compared with 12 percent nationwide. For Maryland 8th graders, the exclusion rate on the reading test was 60 percent, compared with a nationwide rate of 13 percent.
The National Assessment Governing Board wants states to test 95 percent of students identified in a statewide sample, and 85 percent with disabilities. Almost all states met the 95 percent assessment goal. Maryland was an exception.
