edCount has been named the Project Evaluator for the Validity Evaluation of the District of Columbia Alternate Assessment based on Alternate Achievement Standards (AA-AAS). This three-year project is funded by a general supervisory education grant (GSEG) from the Office of Special Education Programs at the U.S. Department of Education to the National Alternate Assessment Center (NAAC) at the University of Kentucky.
The grant is one of several the U.S. Department of Education has awarded to help ensure that the alternate assessments for students with disabilities, required of all states, are of high quality.
Dr. Ellen Forte, President of edCount, and her team have been contracted to serve as the Project Evaluator for the District of Columbia. DC is one of five state-level agencies collaborating with NAAC on this project; the other state education agencies are Kentucky, Georgia, Connecticut, and Puerto Rico.
As the Project Evaluator, edCount will oversee three validity studies over the course of the three-year project. These studies are part of the validation process for the AA-AAS. Stakeholders in each state will provide input to determine the particular focus and design of the three studies to be conducted in each state.