Abstract:
Virginia’s Alternate Assessment Program (VAAP) is a relatively new, but
important program for use with students with significant disabilities. An understanding
of teachers’ perspectives relating to the VAAP as well as its Aligned Standards of
Learning (ASOLS) is crucial in understanding teachers’ attitudes concerning perceived
effectiveness and improved outcomes for students with the most significant disabilities.
This mixed methods study addressed the perspectives, practices and attitudes of teachers
using the VAAP in one school district in Virginia. The purpose of the study was to
examine the implementation of the VAAP from the perspectives of school personnel on
instruction of students with severe disabilities in one school district. The specific
components of the study included review of: (a) the implementation of “evidenced based
best practices,” (b) student scores on the VAAP, (c) current curricula and specific
teaching practices, and (d) the perceived influence of the degree of severity of the
students taking the VAAP. Finally, the study considered teachers’ and staff’s
perceptions of the VAAP with ASOLs and its relationship with instructional practices.
The overall findings from the participants in this study include the following: (a)
a need for more expertise and improved staff development in the area of instruction for
students with severe disabilities; (b) there were no significant differences before or after
VAAP with ASOLs implementations on teachers’ use of evidenced based best practices;
(c) it is unclear whether results of the VAAP inform instructional practices; (d) a clearly
established curriculum for students with severe disabilities does not appear to be
consistently implemented; (e) the VAAP with ASOLs does not appear to have impacted
the majority of teachers’ practices for students with severe disabilities; (f) there is
disagreement among staff regarding perceptions of the appropriateness of mastery of
academic content with the degree of the severity of the student’s disability, and (g) both
positive and negative perceptions of the VAAP with ASOLs exist among staff in this
small school district. Although the VAAP with ASOLs has increased academic
expectations for student performance, especially for student with more mild to moderate
cognitive disabilities the utility for the most severely cognitively impaired and medically
fragile students remains less clear. This study provides a description of how one district is
working with the alternative assessment procedures with students with cognitive
disabilities. Future research can provide evidence on the effectiveness of the VAAP with
ASOLs with students with significant disabilities.
