Students with Learning Disabilities Assessment

Purposes of Assessment Screening Determining eligibility Planning a program Monitoring student progress Evaluating a program

Types of Assessment Formal evaluation - Standardized testing - Norm-referenced Tests of Intelligence - Used to ascertain student’s general ability level and to rule out mental retardation

Informal Evaluation and Assessment - Criterion tests - Probes - Placement tests - Checklists - Direct observation - Miscellaneous techniques - Curriculum-based assessment - Alternative assessment

Testing Guidelines Assessing Culturally Diverse Students –Over-representation of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in programs for learning disabilities Testing Accommodations –i.e., extended time and tests read aloud –Teachers should make decisions on what accommodations to use based on data- based decisions

Assessment Process in Learning Disabilities Prereferral –Analyze individual cases and find strategies before referring to special education Referral –Involves determining if a student is a candidate for special ed services, contacting and discussing it with the parents, beginning a screening study, and meeting with parents and appropriate professionals to decide if formal evaluation is needed

Assessment Process C ontinued Assessment for Identification –Examining the parameters that define a learning disability –Looking for severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability

Assessing Specific Components of a Learning Disability –Exclusion : looking at other factors such as hearing problems or emotional disturbance –Academic Achievement : discrepancy between ability and achievement –Language Achievement : listening comprehension and oral expression –Process : visual, auditory, haptic, sensory-integration, and motor –Discrepancy : failure to achieve in one of seven areas, the gap between achievement and and intellectual ability must be extensive enough to result in “severe discrepancy”

Determining Discrepancy - Standard Score Comparisons -Deviation from Grade Level -Expectancy Formulas -Regression Analysis

Assessment Model 1.Determine scope and sequence 2.Decide what behavior to assess 3.Select an evaluation activity 4.Administer the evaluation 5.Record student’s performance 6.Determine short- and long-range instructional objectives

Assessment for Instruction Assessment for How to Teach –Identify major areas of assessment: expectation factors, stimulus events, response factors, and subsequent events –Weigh the major areas in relation to each other; after they have been assessed and viewed as a whole, a profile may be written Individualized Education Program (IEP) –Once student is determined as having a learning disability, assessment focuses on instruction; process is guided by an IEP