The National Task Force on Equity in Testing Deaf and Hard of Hearing Individuals was initially set up in 1987 to address the problem of the large percentage of deaf teachers failing teacher licensing and certification tests. It has since extended its aim to include other deaf professionals and deaf and hard of hearing individuals of all ages. The task force is not a Gallaudet University committee, but a national entity that meets at Gallaudet. It includes representation from postsecondary institutions training deaf professionals, professional organizations, testing companies and state and local government officials. The task force has a limited budget that limits the ability of members to attend meetings, and has been moving toward a more electronic format in recent years. The task force web site is at http://gri.gallaudet.edu/TestEquity/ .

High Stakes Tests (HST) Committee (Working Group) at Gallaudet University

The focus of the HST Committee has evolved into two main things. The first is planning a conference on the issue of HST with deaf and hard of hearing individuals that would have a high impact on policy makers. The conference would also address the high interest expressed about this topic by a diverse group of people in response to an article written by Robert C. Johnson that appeared in the Spring/Summer 2001 issue of Research at Gallaudet. This conference may be connected with the Annual Meeting of NASDSE in November 2002. The second is a research effort to get a better picture of what is happening with the administration and results of HST with this population nationwide.

The HST Committee invites correspondence with ideas or questions related to its efforts.

Presentation: Kevin Keane and Adrianne Robins, Lexington School for the Deaf

Robert C. Johnson expressed that he is impressed by the attitude that the Lexington School is taking toward HST in New York. It seems that instead of running away from them, the Lexington School is welcoming them. Of particular interest are the cognitive strategies used at the school.

New York State currently issues three diplomas:

• Regents (requires five exams during high school and specific course-work; passing score is 65)
• Local (requires passing the Regional Competency Test; students who pass the Regents with a score of 55-64 also receive this diploma)
• IEP (requires that students meet all IEP goals set during their last year of schooling)

The local diploma is on the way out, and by 2004, all students will have to meet the requirements for the Regents diploma. For special education students, the local diploma will be available until 2005.

The problem with the shift to ONLY the Regents diploma by 2005 is that getting a high school diploma becomes all or nothing. Robert Weinstock expressed concern over how this shift to Regents only would affect college admissions, given the open admission policies at several public two- and four-year colleges and universities in New York.

About 25 percent of general education students statewide do not get the Regents diploma. In New York City, the number climbs to 40 to 50 percent.

*Overhead: Minimum New York State Graduation Requirements*

Kevin Keane stated that HST have been long established, but that the tests themselves are changing. Changes to the 4th and 8th grade tests began three years ago to align them more closely with the Regents exams. Content remains age-appropriate, but the structure and processes required during the test are more similar from test to test. Former tests were multiple choice. The new tests ask students not only to find the answer, but also to explain it. There is more of a focus on the application of concepts, rather than just regurgitation of facts. Answering a question is a multiple-step process, and questions sometimes ask for multiple representations of the same information. The new tests require more time and, therefore, stamina, on the students' part. Reading passages also tend to shift genres.
*Overhead: Sample 4th Grade Math (Maria using straws...)*
*Overhead: Sample 8th Grade Math (Family of five generates trash...)*
*Overhead: Sample of Regents Math (Trees)*
*Overheads: Sample of 4th Grade English (Whales)*
*Overheads: Sample of Regents English (Persuasive letter)*

In 4th grade, there are eight days of testing (three days English, three days Math, two days Science). In 8th grade, there are 10 days of testing (one two-day test per subject)

These tests (and the Regents tests) are scored holistically. Schools are required to receive training at Regional Centers before they are allowed to score their own tests. Teachers are given several tools to aid in test scoring: rubrics, models, and a telephone hotline to call with questions. The scoring of the tests provides teachers with valuable information on their students.

The design of these tests mirrors the complexity required in today's workplace.

Businesses in the year 2000 are looking for skills in the following areas:

• Literacy (including mathematical and technological literacy, given the Information Age)
• Problem solving (identifying, defining, and solving problems)
• Adaptability (being able to handle change)

The Lexington School has chosen to reflect on rather than react to the changes in HST. The Lexington School actively reflects on how these skills are represented in its educational programs. Teachers also look at HST to inform curriculum development.

The student body at Lexington represents 20 different languages, most have over 80 dB hearing loss and 80 percent participate in the federal school lunch program. Of the 370 students at the Lexington School, all but those with multiple disabilities take the Regents exams.

Judith Mounty mentioned that she is unaware whether any representatives of the Deaf community are involved in the changes to the Regents. She feels that it is important to lobby for research on how or whether the process of signing affects the content being tested. Perhaps not all content currently in the Regents lends itself well to translation, thereby diminishing the value of providing an interpreter as a reasonable accommodation for deaf and hard of hearing students.

The design of the Regents does not take special education into consideration, specifically its accessibility. This is becoming an important issue because more special education students are participating in these tests.

Presentation: Eileen O'Toole, School Psychologist, Model Secondary School for the Deaf, Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center

The MSSD Freshman Literacy Project was started during the 1999-2000 school year to boost reading comprehension scores on the Stanford Achievement Test-9 with a chosen group of students. The impetus for this effort was an observed discrepancy between these students' scores on the SAT-9 and scores on informal reading inventories and tests.

Participants in this effort noticed that deaf and hard of hearing students had little practice answering multiple-choice questions about a reading passage, and that success on the SAT-9 required reading across multiple genres. The established curriculum was heavy in realistic literature. This program aimed to address these two needs and was executed as a supplement to the established curriculum. The program was an eight-month intervention, and students participated in 20 hours of practice during this time--not a lot, but enough to increase the students' comfort with the tests.

Two resources were used during the intervention: Terror and Test Best. The former is especially good for addressing issues of vocabulary development and diversity in genres. The latter is valuable for its inclusion of content in the areas of social studies and the environment. At the beginning of the intervention, students were given long passages (two pages) with 10 questions to practice with. These were shortened as the intervention progressed, with the last practice materials being short passages (one page) with six questions.

The program began with 30 students, and 26 of these 30 took the post-test. Four or five of these 26 were limited English Proficiency (LEP) students. All students showed gains, but the gains for the LEP students were "astonishing."

The curriculum should include the same kinds of information students are asked to work with on the tests. Students also need to be exposed to different question styles and formats. Finally, world knowledge needs to be considered and expanded (older students tended to do better on these tests because of more world knowledge).

Presentation: Charlene Sorensen, Health Careers Opportunity Program, Department of Chemistry and Physics, Gallaudet University.