IEP Team Decision-Making for More Inclusive Assessments: Policies, Percentages, and Personal Decisions

Since the 2001–2002 school year, the accountability provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB, 2001) have shaped much of the work of public school teachers and administrators in the United States. NCLB required each state to develop content and achievement standards in several subjects, to administer tests to measure students’ attainment of those standards, to develop targets for student performance on those tests, and to impose a series of sanctions on schools and districts that did not meet the targets. Together, the standards, assessments, and consequences constitute a standards-based accountability system. State assessments are the mechanism for determining whether schools have been successful in teaching students the knowledge and skills defined by the content standards. The accountability provisions ensure that schools are held accountable for educational results. Many states had such a system in place before NCLB took effect, but since 2001–2002, every state in the United States has had to develop and implement a standards-based accountability system that meets the requirements of the law. This mandate has affected every public school student, every public school, and every district in the nation.