THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE CRITERIA FOR INCLUSION OF SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENTS IN THE MICHIGAN EDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENT PROGRAM AT THE FOURTH-GRADE LEVEL

The purposes of this study were to examine the appropriateness of the existing criteria for special education students participating in the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) test.;The independent variables were the seven impairment groups, the percentage of reading and math instruction in special education, and the MEAP proctors' judgment of whether the mechanics of the test were appropriate for the students. The dependent variables were the MEAP reading and math scores.;The data gathered from this study were analyzed and statistical hypotheses tested through a series of one-way analyses of variance. F-ratios with statistical levels of alpha = .05 were accepted as statistically significant for this study. Planned comparisons were used to examine relationships among levels of independent variables. The overall findings suggested that special education students from various disability groups scored differently on the MEAP reading and math tests. Additional findings indicated that special education students who received a majority of their reading and/or math instruction in the general education classroom scored significantly higher on the MEAP reading and math tests than did special education students who received a majority of their math and/or reading instruction in special education classrooms. Examination of student scores on the MEAP test indicated that the proctors could accurately identify the students who had difficulty handling the mechanics of the MEAP test.;Based on these findings and the distribution of students regarding the percentage of reading and math instruction times, the present inclusion criteria for the MEAP test seem to be appropriate.;A total of 751 fourth-grade special education students from 97 of Michigan's 530 K-12 school districts participated in this study. To assure the generalizability of the study findings, a systematic stratification method was used in selecting the 97 districts. Seven categories of special education students participated in the study: educable mentally impaired, speech and language impaired, emotionally impaired, physically or otherwise health impaired, visually impaired, learning disabled, and hearing impaired. All special education students from the 97 sampled districts were to be included in the study.