Cara Cahalan Laitusis

Computer-based testing holds promise for increasing accessibility of state assessments for children with disabilities. However, providing appropriate accommodations presents a challenge for this testing method. There have been particular challenges with making computer-based test items accessible to students who are Braille readers. The purpose of this project is to add enhancements in testing accommodations for students who are blind or have low vision to an existing platform that delivers ...

Alternate assessments based on modified academic achievement standards are designed to be challenging for eligible students and measure mastery of grade-level content, but are less difficult than regular grade-level assessment. Many alternate assessments have been created by modifying existing grade level assessments; where modifications include simplifying the language, decomposing subskills, and eliminating a distractor for multiple-choice items. However empirical research supporting these...

Comprehension is the ultimate educational goal of reading. There are subcomponent skills to reading that are essential building blocks to mastery of reading comprehension. These are: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension strategies. Identifying subcomponent profiles of weaknesses and strengths is essential for developing individual interpretive, descriptive, and diagnostic reports for students with learning disabilities that affect reading. This project will des...

Students with visual impairments present an ongoing challenge in large-scale assessments of reading proficiency, and issues persist concerning the valid assessment of reading with this population, particularly when some type of technology-assisted reading (e.g. text to speech) is involved. The purpose of this project is to: (a) examine the psychometric properties of state assessments for students with visual impairments, (b) conduct research on the development of an alternate assessment of ...