Graduation Exam Participation and Performance (2000-2001) of English Language Learners with Disabilities. ELLs with Disabilities Report 3

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) made it clear that states, districts, and schools are to hold high expectations for all students and work to improve outcomes for low performing groups. A central part of these mandated improvement efforts is using data to identify groups of students who are achieving poorly on statewide tests and find ways to improve instruction for the students so that they might achieve at higher rates in the future. The data in this report come from the year in which NCLB legislation was passed, but had not yet taken effect. Requirements for alternate assessments for students with severe disabilities and for at least 95% participation of students in a subgroup to be tested for accountability purposes had not yet been implemented. The data on the participation and performance of students with limited English proficiency and disabilities that are presented in this report are important because they are among some of the first that have been publicly reported and analyzed. Despite their importance, they still must be viewed with some caution, particularly when considering data by disability category, because of the limited number of students.