News
Teacher Perspectives of Instructionally Embedded Assessments
State education agencies are increasingly interested in developing and adopting through-course assessment models to meet statewide assessment and accountability requirements. However, because many of these systems are still under development, limited information about teacher perceptions of these administration models is available. We used focus groups and surveys to collect feedback...
KU Center on Disabilities to host screening of The Ride Ahead
Program helps Alaska students WRITE paths to success
Education researcher enhances software to make assessments a tool for teachers
ATLAS fellow maps student understanding with novel approach
Swift solution: Taylor Swift sparks innovation for education researcher
Improving Instructional Decision-Making Using Diagnostic Classification Models
Teacher Use of Diagnostic Score Reports for Instructional Decision-Making in the Subsequent Academic Year
Large-scale summative assessment results are typically delivered after students complete their academic term, so their use is often limited to accountability reporting, program evaluation and resource allocation. Members of the educational measurement field are discussing ways large-scale assessment results can inform instruction, including in the following school year. ...
NCME and AERA presentations
Using Simulated Retests to Estimate the Reliability of Diagnostic Assessment Systems
As diagnostic classification models become more widely used in large-scale operational assessments, we must give consideration to the methods for estimating and reporting reliability. Researchers must explore alternatives to traditional reliability methods that are consistent with the design, scoring, and reporting levels of diagnostic assessment systems. In this article, we...
ATLAS Research Fellowships — Call for Proposals
CVI and Other Visual Impairments in Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities
Drawing on expansive student data, the National Center on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB) and Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Systems (ATLAS) collaborated to produce a 2021 technical report, Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities and Dual Sensory Loss to learn more about students who are deafblind and have significant cognitive disabilities. The findings...
ATLAS hosts panel of special education and science education experts
ATLAS is bringing together special education and science education experts from around the country to review new drafts of science Essential Elements for the Dynamic Learning Maps® (DLM®) alternate assessment. DLM computer-based assessments are accessible to students with the most significant cognitive disabilities, for whom general state assessments are not appropriate, even...
New assessment model will allow teachers to modify instruction as students learn
LAWRENCE — Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessments Systems (ATLAS) has teamed up with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) on a $2.5 million grant project to develop an innovative assessment model that provides students opportunities to demonstrate knowledge and skills not only at the end of the...
ATLAS celebrates five years of progress
Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Systems (ATLAS) launched in August 2017 with one operational assessment, one grant project, and about 50 staff members. Five years later, ATLAS comprises seven active programs and projects, one completed project, numerous research publications and presentations, and 150-plus staff members. ...
Research provides insight into students with significant cognitive disabilities and dual sensory loss
Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Systems (ATLAS) and the National Center on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB) have partnered to learn more about students who are deafblind with significant cognitive disabilities. ...
Experts team up to improve outcomes for often-overlooked student population
The shared belief that all students have a right to high-quality academic instruction has brought together experts from across the country to improve access to the general education curriculum for students who are deafblind with significant cognitive disabilities. ...
ATLAS DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS – CALL FOR PROPOSALS
New grant aims to improve writing skills of Alaska Native students
LAWRENCE — Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Systems (ATLAS), a center within the Achievement and Assessment Institute at the University of Kansas, has partnered with Alaska’s Arctic Slope Community Foundation to improve Alaska Native students’ writing skills so they are better prepared for success after high school. ...
IDENTIFICATION AND INSTRUCTION FOR STUDENTS WITH COGNITIVE DISABILITIES WHO ARE ENGLISH LEARNERS
Researchers from Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Systems (ATLAS) at the University of Kansas examined the challenges of identifying and providing adequate assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities for whom English is not their first language (English learners). ...
ATLAS psychometrician awarded grant for improving software, methods for educational research
LAWRENCE — Jake Thompson, senior psychometrician with Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Systems at the University of Kansas, has received a $225,000 grant from the Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Educational Research. Titled Improving Software and Methods for Estimating Diagnostic Classification Models and Evaluating Model Fit, the grant...
KU center begins work on $2.5M grant supporting professional learning for teacher trainers
LAWRENCE — Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Systems (ATLAS) at the University of Kansas has received a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. The Special Educator Technology-Based Training of Trainers (SETTT) for Success grant supports the development of a learning portal to...