NCEO Celebrates 35 Years

The National Center on Educational Outcomes this fall celebrates 35 years of helping states and school districts implement special education law, work that has dramatically improved outcomes for students with disabilities.

“NCEO has an extraordinary record of contributions to the U.S. education system, from calling attention to the exclusion of students with disabilities in state assessments, to introducing universal design principles in the assessment process, to shaping national legislation and policy,” said Kristin Liu, NCEO’s co-director. “It was one of the first entities to report on the lack of accommodation policies for state assessments, and to advocate for including students with disabilities in assessments, work that informed decades of national advocacy by the families of students with disabilities.”

University of Minnesota President Emeritus Robert Bruininks led NCEO in its first year, followed by James Ysseldyke, Martha Thurlow, and Sheryl Lazarus. Liu and Andrew Hinkle have co-directed NCEO since 2024.

“The work of NCEO raised expectations for the participation of students with disabilities in assessments. The belief that all students should be included in assessments, including students with the most significant cognitive disabilities, was directly influenced by NCEO’s research,” Hinkle said. “Our work has helped create the expectation that all students will participate in meaningful assessments.”

The center, affiliated with the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota, is a national leader in improving access to educational assessments and providing leadership on alternate assessments for students with disabilities.

NCEO researchers have also provided guidance on the creation of federal disability education law. In the mid-1990s, they documented early conversations about providing accommodations for students with disabilities taking the National Assessment of Educational Progress, for which officials eventually adopted testing accommodations. In the early 2000s, its application of universal design concepts to large-scale assessments led to the adoption of universal design as a critical aspect of the development of state tests. Over time, NCEO has broadened its focus to address all types of assessments and continues to advocate for appropriate accommodations. It also helps ensure that test results for students with disabilities and English learners are reported and included in accountability systems used for all students. A long-running, twice-monthly community of practice the center hosts is attended by education officials in 47 states.

“For a long time, states weren’t including kids with more extensive needs when they were implementing accountability measures,” Liu said. “NCEO has been the one to shine a light and say, ‘We know it’s challenging to figure out how best to assess them, and how best to teach them so they can participate in the assessment. But don’t forget them.’”

Click here to learn more about NCEO’s work.