The primary goal of the white paper Technology-Enabled and Universally Designed Assessment: Considering Access in Measuring the Achievement of Students with Disabilities—A Foundation for Research is to stimulate research into technology-enabled assessments (TEAs) that incorporate conditions designed to make tests appropriate for the full range of the student population through enhancing accessibility. The paper explores the concept of accessibility in TEAs, particularly as it applies to students with disabilities. In this context, four major themes related to access are explored:

1. The necessity of a construct-centered approach to developing accessible assessments in which the importance of preserving construct-related validity when developing methods for increasing access is emphasized;
2. How technology can be used to provide access to the targeted knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) and the role that universal design plays in increasing accessibility;
3. Embedding access and interactive features directly into systems that deliver TEAs and the possibility of incorporating scaffolding directly into innovative items; and 
4. The importance of investigating the validity of inferences from TEAs that incorporate accessibility features designed to maximize validity.

This white paper is based on discussions that occurred at the Invitational Research Symposium on Technology-Enabled and Universally Designed Assessments, held in Arlington, VA, on July 23, 2009. NCTI Deputy Director Heidi Silver-Pacuilla participated in the meeting, which brought together a group of researchers who had completed or were engaged in research involving technology-enabled assessment, universal design for assessment, and/or students with disabilities, focused on two specific areas: cognition and access.

Full paper