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NARAP Update

January 2005

• First Update
• Definition Panel
• General Advisory Committee--Profile
• General Advisory Committee--Newsletter article

First Update

One of the recommendations made during the December 10 th meeting of the General Advisory Committee (GAC) of the National Accessible Reading Assessment Projects (NARAP) was that monthly updates be provided for all members.  Attached is the January 2005 update containing information about the membership and activities of the Definition Panel, and the status of several GAC issues.

In the interest of ease and accessibility, we are sending you a printer-friendly version of the update. Once the NARAP Web site is up, we plan to put this on the Web site under the NARAP letterhead. Future GAC updates will be posted there as well, after they are sent to you via email. Look for the NARAP Web site to be up and running by the middle of February – at the latest! 

If you have any questions, suggestions, or ideas for any aspect of NARAP, please do not hesitate to contact us. The easiest way is to connect first to Mari (quen0006@umn.edu). She can forward your email on to others, unless you have a specific person you want to contact--then feel free to do so.

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Definition Panel

Fifteen people, representing many educational perspectives, have been selected to serve on the NARAP Definition Panel.  The names of the members, their titles, and affiliations are available on the roster.

The initial meeting of the Definition Panel was held on January 29, 2005 at the Hilton Airport Hotel in Minneapolis, MN. The goal for this meeting was to formulate a definition of reading proficiency that can be used as a basis for research and development for accessible large-scale tests of reading proficiency that (consistent with the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 NCLB) provide:

1. a valid measure of proficiency against academic standards; and
2. individual interpretive, descriptive, and diagnostic reports for a full range of students with disabilities that affect reading.

The February update will provide complete coverage of the outcomes of the Definition Panel meeting, along with plans for next steps for obtaining stakeholder feedback on the definition. Please look for this information next month because we will be looking for your input or help.

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General Advisory Committee--Profile

We are in the process of finalizing a profile of each organization represented on the General Advisory Committee.  The profile has two parts: Part A contains general information about each organization that we have compiled; Part B contains questions that will yield specific information about each organization and its relationship to the NARAP process.  We will be emailing the profiles to you for verification and then putting the information from Part A on the NARAP website.

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General Advisory Committee--Newsletter Article

At the request of the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), Martha Thurlow and Cara Cahalan-Laitusis prepared an article for publication in one of the upcoming NCME newsletters . The article is a brief introduction to NARAP and the two projects that are currently funded.

If you would like to share information about your appointment to the NARAP GAC and what the the GAC is doing, we have prepared the following sample article for you to use as you wish.

___________________ Named to General Advisory Committee of

National Accessible Reading Assessment Projects (NARAP)

_____________(Name), _______________(Title), was recently selected to serve on the General Advisory Committee of the National Accessible Reading Assessment Projects (NARAP). NARAP is a collaborative of projects that currently include two OSEP-funded projects. One project is Designing Accessible Reading Assessments (DARA) based at Educational Testing Service (ETS). The second project is the Partnership for Accessible Reading Assessment, a consortium made up of the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO); the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing CRESST); and Westat, Inc.

The two projects have a common set of four goals:

• Formulate a definition of the construct of “reading proficiency,” one that provides a basis for research and development for accessible large-scale tests of reading proficiency that provide valid measures of proficiency against academic standards, and meaningful individual reports for the full range of students with disabilities that affect reading.

• Conduct a program of research on the assessment of reading proficiency to determine the effects of various factors of test development, design, and administration on accessibility, validity, and comparability for students with disabilities that affect reading.

• Develop research-based principles and guidelines for making large-scale assessments of reading proficiency more accessible for students who have disabilities that affect reading.

• Develop and field-test instruments or methods for assessing reading proficiency that are suitable for large-scale administration for school accountability purposes; that are accessible to students who have disabilities that affect reading; that maintain validity and comparability of scores; and that can provide valid measures and individual reports for the full range of students with disabilities that affect reading.

The 25-member General Advisory Committee is made up of representatives from key organizations including test developers, reading educators, researchers, parents, and disability groups. The group is charged with reviewing and advising on the general plans of the project and serving as a liaison with their own, and other important stakeholder groups.

General information about NARAP and the work of the General Advisory Committee is available at http://www.narap.info.

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