MCAS test was designed to test student’s capabilities in different areas during their learning process. This guidelines locked out the people with significant cognitive disability who find it difficult to conform to the structured curriculum. This brought about the MCAS-Alternative program which addresses the teaching and assessment methods for such students. In light of the new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), Learning institutions have been given a leeway to implement this curriculum in their schools provided they don’t exceed more than 1% of the students’ population ( "Important information about the MCAS Alternate Assessment (MCAS-Alt) and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) - Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System", 2019) . Introduction of altered academic structure for students like Romeo, has been a great source of hope towards nurturing students with special needs to become self-reliant at school, work or at home.
The design of a portfolio that is specific to kids like Romeo has proven to be a great step in keeping track of their progress. The best model to assimilate is one that accommodates the guidelines required to measure the child’s growth, is getting a customized portfolio that helps the child learn comfortably. Given Romeo has level 3 autism, use of visual objects and examples would be instrumental in hastening the learning process as they are able to see and link the canonical facts to the visual image (Blenner et al. 2011). This activity is combined with an interactive conversation to improve their communication aspects as well. Since the autistic child has difficulty coping with unexpected change to routine, various simulation of changes e.g. weather, can be carried out. Doing so, would enable them to get a clear picture of their surroundings and this will catalyze the process of attaining self-independence as well as developing social skills.
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Evaluation of the portfolio will be done practically to ensure the recorded results are true and accurate. This does not necessarily mean giving a written and verbal test only, but also by giving them basic tasks to check on how they relate with the troublesome areas for example, attention span. This is important so as to establish the child’s educational needs and guide in making appropriate decision about the educational programming for the child. This evaluation process must be full and individual to Romeo, using tools to gather the relevant developmental academic and functional information, including information from the parents since they are the first to notice their children’s special needs, and also one of the first people to seek for professional help.
The evaluation would be carried out to collect the child’s information on how they perform in various areas such as: vision and hearing, communicative status, health, academic response, motor abilities, social and emotional status as well as general intelligence. The feedback collected will be used to analyze their progress, and will also give guidance on whether the strategy works effectively or not . If the strategy is ineffective or lacks in one way or the other, then the portfolio would have to be modified to ensure that it is beneficial to the child ("About MCAS Alternate Assessment - Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education", 2019) . This process will be continuous and would not be done on scheduled times like the general exams.
References
About MCAS Alternate Assessment - Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. (2019). Retrieved from http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/alt/about.html?section=faq
Important information about the MCAS Alternate Assessment (MCAS-Alt) and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) - Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. (2019). Retrieved from http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/alt/essa/
Blenner, S., Reddy, A., & Augustyn, M. (2011). Diagnosis and management of autism in childhood. BMJ: British Medical Journal,343 (7829), 894-899. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23052223
