ASSESSMENT IN SPECIAL EDUCATION National Association of Special

ASSESSMENT IN SPECIAL EDUCATION National Association of Special Education Teachers

Definition of Assessment Definition of Assessment: Assessment in special education is a process that involves collecting information about a student for the purpose of making decisions. Assessment is primarily a problemsolving process

Testing v. Assessment Assessment and testing are often treated synonymously yet they really aren't the same. Testing is just one piece of the assessment process.

Your Role in the Assessment of Students No matter which type of professional you become in the field of special education, it is always necessary to fully understand the assessment process and to be able to clearly communicate vital information to professionals, parents, and students.

Multidisciplinary Team In special education, you will work with many professionals from different fields. You are part of a team, often referred to as a Multidisciplinary Team, Definition---A Multidisciplinary team performs the assessment of child for a suspected disability and then determines the child’s eligibility for special education services

Multidisciplinary Team The team’s role is crucial because it helps determine the extent and direction of a child’s personal journey through the special education experience. Consequently, the skills you must possess in order to offer a child the most global, accurate, and practical evaluation should be fully understood.

Decision Making in the Assessment Process Assessment in special education is a process that involves collecting information about a student for the purpose of making decisions about an individual. Assessment plays an critical role in the determination of SIX important decisions

Decision Making in the Assessment Process 1. Evaluation Decisions: Information collected in the assessment process can provide detailed information of a student’s strengths, weaknesses, and overall progress. 2. Diagnostic Decisions: Information collected in the assessment process can provide detailed information of the specific nature of the student’s problems or disability.

Decision Making in the Assessment Process 3. Eligibility Decisions: Information collected in the assessment process can provide detailed information of whether a child is eligible for special education services. 4. IEP (IEP Development) Decisions: Information collected in the assessment process can provide detailed information so that an Individualized Education Program (IEP) may be developed

Decision Making in the Assessment Process 5. Educational Placement Decisions Information collected in the assessment process can provide detailed information so that appropriate decisions may be made about the child’s educational placement 6. Instructional Planning Decisions Information collected in the assessment process is critical in planning instruction appropriate to the child’s special social, academic, physical, and management needs

Disability Categories Under IDEA 2004 The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA 2004), Public Law 108-446, is the federal law that protects those in special education (This is the reauthorized IDEA of 1997) IDEA lists 13 separate categories of disabilities under which children may be eligible for special education and related services.

Disability Categories Under IDEA 2004 Children are eligible to receive special education services and supports if they meet the eligibility requirements for at least one of the disabling conditions listed in IDEA 2004 and if it is determined that they are in need of special education services.

Disability Categories Under IDEA 2004 Autism Deaf-Blindness Developmental Delay Emotional Disturbance Hearing Impairments (including deafness) Mental Retardation Multiple Disabilities Orthopedic Impairments Other Health Impairments Specific Learning Disabilities Speech and Language Impairments Traumatic Brain Injury Visual Impairments

HOW STUDENTS ARE IDENTIFIED FOR ASSESSMENT There are normally three ways in which a student may be identified for assessment of a suspected disability: 1. The student’s classroom teacher may identify that certain symptoms exist within the classroom that seem to indicate the presence of some problem: For example, the student’s work is below expectations for his or her grade or age, or the student’s behavior is so disruptive that he or she is unable to learn.

HOW STUDENTS ARE IDENTIFIED FOR ASSESSMENT 2. The student’s parents may call or write to the school or to the director of special education and request that their child be evaluated: They may feel that the child is not progressing as he or she should or may notice particular problems in how their child learns. When parents note a problem and request an evaluation, the school must follow through on the assessment process. This is the parents’ legal right.

HOW STUDENTS ARE IDENTIFIED FOR ASSESSMENT 3. Other school personnel may suspect the presence of a learning or behavior problem and ask the student’s parents for permission to evaluate the student individually: This may have resulted from a student scoring far below his or her peers on some type of screening measure and thereby alerting the school to the possibility of a potential problem.

INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED IN THE ASSESSMENT PROCESSTHE MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM (MDT) Under IDEA, an evaluation of a child with a suspected disability must be made by a multidisciplinary team. These professionals must use a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant functional and developmental information, including information provided by the parent, that will assist in determining whether a child has a disability as defined under federal law.

Members of the Multidisciplinary Team Regular education teacher School psychologist Educational evaluator Special education teacher Speech and language clinician Medical personnel (when appropriate) Social worker School/guidance counselor Parents School nurse Occupational and physical therapists (when appropriate)

COMPONENTS OF A COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT An evaluation for special education should always be conducted on an individual basis. When completed, it is a comprehensive assessment of the child’s abilities. Under IDEA 2004, no single procedure is used as the sole criterion for determining an appropriate educational program for a child. Further, the child must be assessed in all areas related to the suspected disability A comprehensive assessment should normally include many of the following:

COMPONENTS OF A COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT An individual psychological evaluation including general intelligence, instructional needs, learning strengths and weaknesses, and social emotional dynamics A thorough developmental, social, and academic history based on interviews with parents and student A physical examination including specific assessments that relate to vision, hearing, and health A classroom observation of the student in his or her current educational setting

COMPONENTS OF A COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT An appropriate educational evaluation A behavioral assessment Speech and language evaluations, when appropriate Physical and/or occupational evaluations, when indicated Interviews with the student/parents and significant others in his or her life

METHODS OF ASSESSMENT USED IN SPECIAL EDUCATION OBSERVATIONS Observation: An assessment technique whereby one observes the student in his or her natural environments. Observing the student and his or her environment is an important part of any assessment process.

Observations Observations in the classroom and in other settings where the student operates can provide valuable information about: Academic skills Motor skills Communication skills Social skills

Two Types of Observations 1. Nonsystematic observation: Observer simply watches the observer in his or environment and notes the behaviors, characteristics, and personal interactions that seem significant. 2. Systematic Observation: Here, the observer sets out to observe one or more precisely defined behaviors. The observer specifies observable events that define the behavior and then measures the behavior in a certain way.

Observations Advantages-Get to see spontaneous behavior Disadvantages (1) No control over the situations (2) Observer Bias

Observation Bias One source of error may come from the observer -- he or she must record accurately, systematically, and without bias. If his or her general impression of the student influences how he or she rates that student in regards to specific characteristics, the data will be misleading and inaccurate. This can be especially true if the student comes from a background that is different from the majority culture. In such cases, it is important that the observer have an understanding of, and a lack of bias regarding, the student's cultural or language group.

Common Observational Techniques 1. Anecdotal Recording: The observer describes incidents or behaviors observed in a particular setting in concrete, narrative terms (as opposed to drawing inferences about feelings or motives). This type of record allows insight into cause and effect by detailing what occurred before a behavior took place, the behavior itself, and consequences or events that occurred after the behavior.

Common Observational Techniques 2. Event Recording: The observer is interested in recording the number of times a specific behavioral event occurred (such as how many times the student hits or gets out of his or her seat). A tally sheet listing the behaviors to be observed and counted is useful; when the observer sees the behavior of interest, he or she can simply make a tick mark on the sheet. 3. Duration Recording: This method usually requires a watch or clock, so that a precise measurement of how much time a student spends doing something of concern to the teacher or assessment team (e.g., talking to others, tapping, rocking) can be recorded.

ECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT When observing the child in many different environments, you are conducting an Ecological Assessment Ecological assessment involves directly observing and assessing the child in the many environments in which he or she routinely operates. The purpose of conducting such an assessment is to probe how the different environments influence the student and his or her school performance.

INTERVIEWS Interview: An assessment technique conducted face to face (or by telephone) between an interviewer and an interviewee where recorded responses to questions are obtained.

Two Types of Interviews Structured Interview: Interview whereby a predetermined set of questions is asked Unstructured Interview: Interview where predetermined questions are asked Most interviews combine both structured and unstructured interview questions

Advantages of an Interview Personal Emotional Flexible

Disadvantages of an Interview Time consuming “Costly” Rapport between interviewer and interviewee Concerns with student’s language ability

INTERVIEWS Interviewing the student in question, his or her parents, teachers, and other adults or peers can provide a great deal of useful information about the student. Ultimately, an interview should be a conversation with a purpose with questions designed to collect information that relates to the observed or suspected disability of the child

PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENTS Often, an initial part of the assessment process includes examining a student's work, either by selecting work samples that can be analyzed to identify academic skills and deficits, or by conducting a portfolio assessment, where folders of the student's work are examined.

PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENTS Perhaps the most important type of assessment for the classroom teacher is the portfolio assessment. A portfolio is “a purposeful collection of student works that exhibits the student’s efforts, progress, and achievement in one or more areas.”

Three General Types of Portfolios 1. Working portfolio-Teacher, student, and parents all contribute to the portfolio. Both works-in-progress and final product pieces are included.

Three General Types of Portfolios 2. Showcase portfolio-The portfolio houses only the student’s best work and generally does not include works-in-progress. The student manages the portfolio and decides what to place in it. 3. Record keeping or Teacher portfolio-The portfolio houses student test papers and work samples maintained by the teacher. It contains work not selected by the student for inclusion in the showcase portfolio.

TEST Test: A set of questions or tasks administered to an individual to determine knowledge or skills. The results are reported in one or more types of scores.

VALIDITY Validity is the most essential quality needed in a measuring instrument. Validity denotes the extent to which an instrument is measuring what it is supposed to measure. Obviously, if an instrument is not producing the information that it is supposed to, it is essentially worthless.

VALIDITY The greater the validity of a test, the greater our confidence that it measures what it is designed to measure. Questions about validity are of ultimate importance for special educators because it addresses whether an instrument fulfills the function for which it was created.

Reliability Reliability refers to the consistency of measurements. In assessment, reliability relates to the confidence in an instrument to give the same score for a student if the test were given more than once. A reliable test produces similar scores across various conditions and situations, including different evaluators and testing environments.

Norm-Referenced Tests A norm-referenced test, also known as an NRT, is designed to compare student performance to that of other students. In special education, almost every norm-referenced test compares an individual student’s score against national averages.

Norm-Referenced Tests Scores on norm-referenced tests are not interpreted according to an absolute standard or criterion (i.e., 8 out of 10 correct) but, rather, according to how the student's performance compares with that of a particular group of individuals.

Standardization All norm-referenced tests include standardized procedures. Standardization: Refers to structuring test materials, administration procedures, scoring methods, and techniques for interpreting results. By standardizing the test it means that all children are receiving the same questions and procedures, no matter where it is being administered.

Standardization Standardized tests are very much a part of the education scene. Most of us have taken many such tests in our lifetime. There is a wide variety of standardized tests available to assess different skill areas. In the field of special education, these include intelligence tests, math, reading, spelling and writing tests, perceptual tests and many others.

Criterion-Referenced Tests Criterion referenced tests (CRTs) are scored according to a standard, or criterion, that the teacher, school, or test publisher decides represents an acceptable level of mastery. The test giver is interested what the student can and cannot do, rather than how his or her performance compares with those of other people.

Criterion-Referenced Tests Mastery-a level of performance on a criterion-referenced test that shows that a student has demonstrated the knowledge, skills, and abilities for a unit of instruction or subject area as defined by a predetermined standard. CRT are more concerned with “describing what a student can do” rather than “comparing” her performance to others.

Examples of CriterionReferenced Tests Examples of criterion-referenced questions would be: Does Jane do 8th grade math computation problems with 85% accuracy? Did Joe get 90% of the questions correct on the social studies exam? In criterion-referenced assessment, the emphasis is on passing one or a series of questions.