| The accountability of teachers, schools, and states for the teaching and learning of all students is an issue of great importance in the United States. Over the past ten years, education reform efforts have specifically focused on how to improve instruction and assessment for all students while also ensuring students are moving toward proficiency in the academic areas of reading, mathematics, and science. Educational accountability requirements pose high stakes for students, schools, and states as sanctions are imposed if students do not demonstrate an adequate level of progress toward proficiency. There are certainly many facets to educational accountability and the development of technically sound accountability systems, but recently the instruction and assessment of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities has moved to the forefront of this controversial educational reform effort. To improve teaching and assessment for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities and to truly leave no child behind amidst these reform efforts, a better understanding of the instructional effects of accountability systems as perceived by school leaders (i.e., principals) is critically important.;This study was designed to examine three exploratory research questions related to principals' perceptions of the alternate assessment based on alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS): (a) What were principals' overall perceptions of the influence of the AA-AAS on teachers' daily instruction; (b) Were there meaningful differences in perceptions between principals from Kentucky and South Carolina; and (c) Were there certain characteristics of principals or their schools that predicted principals' perceptions of the AA-AAS influence on instruction?;Findings across the two states were very similar; and overall, principals' perceptions of the AA-AAS in these states were positive. Implications for the field include: (a) increased pre-service and in-service professional development opportunities for principals related to the alternate assessment, (b) principals' encouragement of and assistance with collaboration between general and special education teachers and (c) increased facilitation of parental involvement in the Individual Education Program (IEP) process.;Keywords. Alternate Assessment, Large-Scale Assessment, Special Education, Principal Perceptions, Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities. |
