NCEO Brief Number 36 - Cross-agency Collaboration to Improve Assessments and Outcomes for Students with Disabilities

Oct 15, 2026

NCEO Brief Number 36, September 2024, examines how cross-agency collaboration among special education and assessment offices can improve outcomes for students with disabilities. It connects collaboration requirements to ESEA/ESSA and IDEA, highlighting inclusion in statewide assessments with appropriate accommodations and alternate assessments. The brief defines collaboration, outlines benefits such as innovation and reduced duplication, and specifies roles, including support for data reporting, timely access to accurate assessment data, and joint analysis of proficiency and participation metrics.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

What is Collaboration?

Purpose of the Brief

Reasons for Collaboration

Sharing Specialized Knowledge for Inclusion

Reporting Data to Meet Federal Requirements

Analyzing Assessment Data

NCEO Brief Number 36 • September 2024 Cross-agency Collaboration to Improve Assessments and Outcomes for Students with Disabilities For many years state education agencies (SEAs) have sought to create assessment systems that include all students, including students with disabilities. This is supported by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), commonly known as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which requires that all students, including those with disabilities, be included in state assessments used for accountability. Additionally, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires states to ensure that all students with disabilities are included in all state and districtwide assessment programs, with appropriate accommodations and alternate assessments, if necessary. However, many students with disabilities are not proficient on statewide assessments (Wu et al., 2023) . In order to improve outcomes for students with disabilities, there is an urgent need for crossagency collaboration. Several offices need to collaborate to facilitate the development and implementation of assessments that are accessible to students with disabilities, and to compile and analyze assessment data for these students. Collaboration can lead to crossfertilization of ideas across the agencies which can encourage the emergence of innovative approaches to addressing thorny issues and challenges. Collaboration also can reduce duplication of efforts as well as support more efficient use of resources (OSEP & Head Start, 2022) . This Brief focuses on collaboration between special education and assessment offices, but other offices (e.g., curriculum and instruction, accountability) may also need to be involved. Collaboration can also help ensure that everyone feels a shared responsibility for students with disabilities. For English learners with disabilities, the office responsible for English learners needs to be involved. Collaboration across state agencies also serves asa model for local education agencies (LEAs) . By showcasing successful collaboration strategies, state offices can provide LEAs with practical examples and guidance on how to enhance their own collaborative efforts. This approach not only fosters a culture of cooperation but also helps ensure that LEAs are equipped with the tools and knowledge needed to implement best practices in their operations. Many SEA staff are eager to develop a culture of collaboration across offices that will allow them to better accomplish their work activities. However, barriers may exist that make this goal difficult to realize. Staff have many tasks that What is Collaboration? Collaboration may be described as people or organizations working together to complete a task or to achieve a common goal. Collaboration can help a group achieve a better result than could be achieved separately. they must do, and it can be difficult to have time for collaboration. Sometimes different agencies within the SEA are located on different floors, or sometimes even in different buildings. Agencies may face frequent turnover in staff and new staff may feel like they do not have the knowledge needed to collaborate. The purpose of this Brief is to shine a light on various aspects of cross-agency collaboration with a goal of helping SEAs initiate or improve their collaborative processes. The Brief describes the reasons for collaboration and its benefits, provides suggestions for who needs to be involved, and provides specific examples of successful collaboration. Reasons for Collaboration There are several reasons that special education and assessment offices may benefit from collaboration. Sharing the unique knowledge of special education and assessment offices to support more appropriate inclusion of students with disabilities in assessments. Each office has a deep understanding of some of the information that is vital for ensuring that students with disabilities have app

FAQs

Why do special education and assessment offices need to collaborate?

Collaboration helps integrate specialized knowledge so students with disabilities are more appropriately included in assessments, and it supports accurate use of assessment and accountability requirements.

How does collaboration improve federal reporting requirements?

A positive working relationship enables timely, accurate assessment data so reporting on proficiency, participation, and related plans can be completed effectively.

What kinds of data are needed from each office?

Assessment offices need information from special education offices about student characteristics and IEP accommodations, while special education staff need assessment data to report proficiency and participation progress.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jordan Avery