Development of American Sign Language Guidelines for K-12 Academic Assessments

Abstract

The U.S. federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was enacted with goals of closing achievement gaps and providing all students with access to equitable and high-quality instruction. One requirement of ESSA is annual statewide testing of students in grades 3-8 and once in high school. Some students, including many deaf or hard-of-hearing (D/HH) students, are eligible to use test supports, in the form of accommodations and accessibility tools, during state testing. Although technology allows accommodations and accessibility tools to be embedded within a digital assessment system, the success of this approach depends on the ability of test developers to appropriately represent content in accommodated forms. The Guidelines for Accessible Assessment Project (GAAP) sought to develop evidence- and consensus-based guidelines for representing test content in American Sign Language. In this article, we present an overview of GAAP, review of the literature, rationale, qualitative and quantitative research findings, and lessons learned.

Assessment in an era of accessibility: Evaluating rules for scripting audio representation of test items

“…This finding aligned with qualitative data from the study that indicated that students preferred mechanisms for accessing materials independently. Such findings support the need for audio versions of tests that “are mathematically and linguistically correct while choosing the solution that provides the best accessibility for students” (Higgins et al, , p. 22). Table (below) demonstrates student preference data.…”

“…Score differences between assessment forms were negligible. The most notable finding in this study was that, “in aggregate across grade level bands, students who normally receive audio support during assessment achieved a significantly higher mean score on the support items (M = 5.00, SD = 2.71) than on unsupported items (M = 4.25, SD = 3.07)” (Higgins et al, , p. 20). These differences demonstrate that some students have valid needs for audio representation and that such representation may facilitate comprehension of assessment items.…”

“…Higgins, Famularo, Bowman, and Hall's () study examined the use of image description in mathematics, science and language arts. Two hundred eighty‐one students participated in the study.…”

Diversity in deafness: Assessing students who are deaf or hard of hearing

“…The Guidelines for ASL Translation of Education (GAAP) project created a bilingual team to develop research guidelines for creating embedded‐video ASL support. Addressing the challenges of a linguistically and culturally diverse population with different academic abilities, educational experiences in different learning environments and different language fluency, their team of experts from various backgrounds, including culturally and linguistically diverse professionals, documented the pain‐staking process of creating research guidelines for creating English‐based test content in ASL (Higgins et al, ). Some developers of state standardized tests have also created ASL presentations for their state and district assessments in several U.S. states.…”

“…This is not an advocacy or preference for English‐based assessments, simply the recognition that there are few tests administered for students who sign, and much of what today's students who are DHH encounter in school is the presentation of content or criteria in English print. Assessments which can be presented using sign‐based approaches in a modality that is accessible to the student without impacting the validity or reliability of the assessment should be considered (Higgins et al, ). Discussions of the best‐practices for use with sign‐based assessments should be limited to those professionals with backgrounds in the linguistic elements of American Sign.…”