Accommodating students with exceptional needs by aligning classroom assessment with IEP goals

The majority of students with exceptional needs receive most of their formal education in general education or inclusive classrooms. These students often need a variety of accommodations to ensure their success with the general education curriculum. The purpose of this article is to explore accommodation approaches and strategies for teaching students with exceptional needs in inclusive classrooms. We first discuss the relationship of classroom assessment and IEP goal development, followed by a discussion on how to accommodate learning objectives for classroom assessment. We further discuss how to use classroom assessment to document IEP progress. Finally, we present assessment accommodation categories by providing vignettes of students with exceptional needs who receive appropriate and adequate accommodations in inclusive classrooms. We conclude with a brief discussion on practice, policy, and research implications of accommodations for inclusive practices.