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EnglishWhat Families Should Ask About Assessment When Choosing a School for a Student with a Disability
Updated
Ask how your child's learning will be measured, how those results will be reported to you, and how the school uses assessment data to adjust instruction—not just what test scores the school advertises. NCEO's brief More Than a Score: Asking about Assessment When Choosing a School for Your Student with a Disability makes the case that assessment questions belong in every school-choice conversation for families of students with disabilities, and it supplies both sample questions and plain-language definitions of key terms.
Why assessment belongs in the school-choice conversation
A school's overall proficiency averages say little about whether your child will be included in instruction and assessment. For students with disabilities—including those who are also English learners—the more useful questions are about participation, accessibility, and reporting:
- Participation: Will your child take the same statewide assessments as peers, with accommodations or an alternate assessment as appropriate?
- Accessibility: Are formative, classroom-based, diagnostic, interim, and summative assessments designed so your child can show what they know?
- Reporting: Will you receive results that are meaningful and explained, rather than a single number without context?
NCEO's work centers on the inclusion of students with disabilities in instruction and assessment across the full assessment system, which is why its family brief frames assessment as a school-choice issue rather than a compliance detail.
Questions to ask during a school visit or enrollment meeting
Use these as a starting list and adapt them to your child. Ask for concrete examples, not general assurances.
About how learning is measured
- Which assessments will my child take during the year—classroom, diagnostic, interim, and statewide—and what is each one for?
- How will the school decide whether my child takes the general statewide assessment, the general assessment with accommodations, or an alternate assessment?
- What accommodations are available, and who decides which ones my child receives?
- How does the school monitor progress between formal test windows?
About how results are reported
- How and when will I receive my child's results, and who will explain them to me?
- Will reports show my child's progress and instructional needs, or only a proficiency level?
- How are results for students with disabilities reported separately, and what do those numbers include?
About how results are used
- What happens instructionally after an assessment shows my child is struggling?
- How are families included in meetings where assessment results are discussed?
Key terms to know before the meeting
The NCEO brief defines assessment-related terms and links to further information so families can follow the conversation. The distinctions that matter most in a school-choice discussion:
| Term | What it refers to | Why it matters to families |
|---|---|---|
| Formative assessment | Ongoing checks during instruction | Shows whether day-to-day teaching is working |
| Classroom-based assessment | Tests and tasks teachers design | Closest to your child's actual classroom experience |
| Diagnostic assessment | Measures of specific skills or needs | Informs what support your child receives |
| Interim assessment | Periodic checks across the year | Tracks progress between statewide tests |
| Summative assessment | End-of-year statewide tests | Used for accountability and public reporting |
| Accommodations | Changes in how a student accesses a test | Determine whether your child can demonstrate knowledge |
| Alternate assessment | A different test for students with significant cognitive disabilities | Participation rules and reporting differ from general tests |
Where to find more
NCEO publishes family-facing and practitioner resources on participation and accessibility, including its Participation Matters series, which connects policymakers and agencies with tools to improve assessment policies so all students can show what they know. The 1% Toolkit and Accommodations Toolkit address participation and accommodation decisions, and NCEO's searchable research summaries and bibliographies cover accommodations and alternate assessments. Start with the More Than a Score brief for the family question list, then use the toolkits when you need detail on a specific decision.