District Memorandum of Understanding

Study: Assessment Accommodations for English Language Learners

APPENDIX C

DISTRICT MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

STUDY: Assessment Accommodations for English Language Learners

Notice regarding participants' involvement and privacy:

• Participation is voluntary. Students are not required to participate in this study. There will be no actions or penalties against anyone for not participating. Participants are allowed to ask questions and/or refuse to answer any test item or background question. The collection of these data is authorized by Public Law 107-279 Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, Title I, Part C, Sec. 151(b) and Sec. 153(a).

• Confidentiality of participants is protected. All student responses are protected from disclosure by federal statute (PL 107-279, Title I, Part C, Sec. 183). Responses to this data collection will be used only for statistical purposes. The reports prepared for this study will summarize findings across the sample and will not associate responses with a specific district or individual. We will not provide information that identifies your school or district to anyone outside the study team, except as required by law.

I understand that the following conditions are necessary for participation in this study:

• Designation of a school staff member to act as a site coordinator to facilitate data collection.

• Support in arranging site and assigning staff facilitators for test administration sessions.

• Assistance in distribution and collection of parent consent forms for participating students.

• Support to trained WestEd test administrators in administering a short math test and 12-item background survey (all in one booklet) to sampled students.

For districts participating in the randomized field test (not Item Tryout participants), I understand that the following conditions also are necessary for participation in this study:

• Facilitation of collection of student-level data, including achievement test scores, demographic data, and level of English language proficiency, during the second semester of the 2007-08 school year.

• Support in selecting the sample of students (general education students without disabilities and English language learners in grades 7 and 8) for test administration sessions. Half of the students from each sample group will be randomly assigned to take the original version of the test and half will take the version with linguistically modified items.

I understand that the following award will be provided to thank us for our participation in this study:

• A copy of the final research report, when completed.

• Financial compensation to each participating district ($100 for Item Tryout participants; $500 for randomized field test participants).

• A T-shirt for each participating student.

School Name: __________

Superintendent (or Designee) Signature: ____________Date______________

Print Name and Title: ___

Please return this signed form by fax (415) 615-3200 or by mail to Carole Gallagher, WestEd, 730 Harrison St., San Francisco, CA 94107.

Version 1