NCLB State Assessment Systems 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under NCLB, which federal office was responsible for reviewing and approving state assessment systems?
- The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)
- The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) (Correct answer)
- The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
- The Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
Correct answer: The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE)
The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education within the U.S. Department of Education reviewed peer-reviewed state assessment systems for NCLB compliance.
Question 2: What is the 'peer review' process that NCLB required states to undergo for their assessment systems?
- Teachers reviewing each other's assessment questions for bias
- An external review by education experts to verify assessments meet technical and legal requirements (Correct answer)
- State education agencies reviewing each other's standards
- A review conducted by local school board members
Correct answer: An external review by education experts to verify assessments meet technical and legal requirements
NCLB mandated that state assessments undergo a federal peer review by external experts to ensure technical quality and standards alignment.
Question 3: Which NCLB provision addressed the testing of students with disabilities by requiring assessments to be accessible?
- Adequate Yearly Progress clause
- Universal design and accommodations requirement (Correct answer)
- Supplemental services mandate
- Corrective action protocol
Correct answer: Universal design and accommodations requirement
NCLB required states to provide appropriate accommodations and use universal design principles so students with disabilities could meaningfully participate in assessments.
Question 4: If a school misses AYP for five or more consecutive years, what is the most intensive NCLB intervention stage?
- School improvement year one
- Corrective action
- Restructuring (Correct answer)
- Supplemental educational services
Correct answer: Restructuring
After five or more years of missing AYP, a Title I school entered restructuring, the most intensive intervention requiring major governance changes.
Question 5: Under NCLB, which subgroups were explicitly required to be reported separately in assessment results?
- Only race/ethnicity and gender
- Race/ethnicity, economically disadvantaged, students with disabilities, and English language learners (Correct answer)
- Only students with disabilities and English language learners
- All individual grade-level cohorts
Correct answer: Race/ethnicity, economically disadvantaged, students with disabilities, and English language learners
NCLB required disaggregated reporting for race/ethnicity, economic disadvantage, disability status, and English language learner status.
Question 6: What was one major technical requirement NCLB placed on state assessments to ensure test quality?
- Tests had to be completed in under 30 minutes
- Assessments had to demonstrate adequate reliability and validity (Correct answer)
- All test items had to be multiple choice
- States had to use only commercially published tests
Correct answer: Assessments had to demonstrate adequate reliability and validity
NCLB required state assessments to be technically sound—meeting standards for reliability (consistency) and validity (accuracy in measuring what they intended).
Question 7: How did NCLB's assessment mandates affect states that previously had no statewide testing system?
- Those states were grandfathered in and exempt from testing requirements
- Those states had to develop and implement compliant assessment systems or risk losing Title I funding (Correct answer)
- Those states could use SAT/ACT scores in place of a state assessment
- Those states were given a 10-year phase-in period with no penalties
Correct answer: Those states had to develop and implement compliant assessment systems or risk losing Title I funding
States without existing compliant assessment systems had to create them or face potential loss of Title I funds.
NCLB State Assessment Systems 5
Under NCLB, which federal office was responsible for reviewing and approving state assessment systems?