Including Pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disability in National Assessment: Comparison of Three Country Case Studies through an Inclusive Assessment Framework

Abstract

The assessment of educational progress and outcomes of pupils is important to all concerned with education. This includes testing which is undertaken for accountability and award bearing purposes. This article examines how students with special educational needs and disability (SEND) are included in assessment. An “inclusive assessment” framework is outlined based around three core features: (1) all students are included and benefit from assessment; (2) assessments are accessible and appropriate for the diverse range of children in the education system; and (3) the full breadth of the curriculum is assessed (including curriculum areas of particular relevance to students with SEND). Assessment policies and practice in three countries (England, Ireland and the US) are drawn upon to demonstrate how the framework usefully enables between-country comparisons and within-country analysis. This analysis shows that in comparison to Ireland, the US and England have highly developed system-based approaches to assessment which seek to “include all” (feature 1) and be “accessible and appropriate” (feature 2). However, the analysis highlights that a consequence of such assessment approaches is the narrowing of the curriculum around topics that are assessed (most notably literacy and mathematics). Such approaches therefore may be at the expense of wider curriculum areas that have value for all students, but often of particular value for those with SEND (feature 3). It is argued that within such systems there may be a danger of neglecting the third feature of the inclusive assessment framework, i.e. ensuring that the full breadth of the curriculum is assessed. A consequence of such an omission could be a failure to assess and celebrate progress in relation to educational outcomes that are relevant to a diverse range of students.

Keywords:

• alternative assessment
• curriculum
• educational outcomes
• inclusive assessment
• inclusive education
• national assessment
• special educational needs and disability (SEND)
• test accommodations

Acknowledgements

This research draws upon a review which was funded by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) in Ireland (see Douglas et al., 2012). A member of the original research team, Dr Penny Lacey, sadly died in January 2015. We remember our friend and colleague Penny with great fondness and thank her for the huge contribution she has made to the field of education, in particular the education of children with profound and multiple learning disabilities.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Different countries use different terms to refer to this broadly defined group of students. In this article we use the term “special educational needs and disability” (SEND) to navigate this ambiguity, although we accept that different countries not only use different terms, but also have different definitional boundaries (e.g. “who counts” as having a disability associated with low attainment). It is also worth noting that SEND has gained formal use in recent policy and legal frameworks in England, e.g. Children and Families Act 2014 and the publication of the associated 2014 “SEND Code of Practice: 0–25 years”. SEND is used generally in the article, except when we discuss countries specifically when we use the term most commonly used in that country: students with disability in the US and students with special educational needs (SEN) in England and Ireland.