| The purpose of this study was to examine the content standard mastery of students who participated in the 2004-2005 Maryland Alternate Assessment (Alt-MSA). The Alt-MSA is a portfolio assessment given to students with significant cognitive disabilities who are unable to participate in the Maryland School Assessment, or MSA, which is the required general assessment for all students in the state. Both the MSA and the Alt-MSA assess students' knowledge of grade level Maryland Reading and Mathematics Content Standards. The Content Standards represent what all students in the state of Maryland should know and be able to do in each grade in the areas of reading and mathematics. Participation in either the MSA or the Alt-MSA is required in grades three through eight and tenth grade. This study examined results of grades three, eight and ten, comparing general education and special education schools in order to provide a descriptive analysis of content standard achievement at the elementary, middle and high school level in both settings.;The results of this study reveal several interesting findings that could warrant further research. Findings from this study revealed higher content standard mastery in elementary schools than in secondary schools for both content standard areas, reading and mathematics, for student in both special education and general education settings. Data also showed that the difference in content standard mastery between the settings is slight when analyzed on a general level; however, when analyzed standard by standard the difference is more pronounced for several standards. Overall, it was found that students in both settings mastered the Reading Content Standards at a higher rate than the Mathematics Content Standards, although the difference between the Reading and Mathematics Content Standards was greater for students in special education settings. Additionally, the variation of mastery between content standards is greater for students in special education settings in all grade levels for both reading and mathematics. |
