Educational Assessment in the Future

Educational assessment in the future seems to be moving towards teacher-oriented and performance-based assessments. Societal forces are driving this move, spurred by the increasing amounts of knowledge, and the demand for individuals capable of manipulating large amounts of information. As standardized tests slowly lose importance, the special needs environment will likely benefit from teacher-oriented assessments that allow instructors to focus curriculum on a child's individual needs and capabilities.

Stiggins (1991) argues that educational assessment in American schools is currently undergoing a rapid change that represents "the end of a six-decade assessment era and the beginning of a whole new era" (p. 263). The past 60 years have been dominated by assessments based upon standardized versions of objective tests. In this system, teachers "would teach.. And assessors would assess" (Stiggins, 264), thus clearly separating teaching and assessment.

This method of assessment began to come under fire, argues Stiggins, as society began to demand schools outcome for the educational achievement of their students. Largely, this demand came from changes in society that demanded that students require more complex thinking and problem-solving skills in keeping with society's need for efficient managers of information, rather than individuals who memorize information (Stiggins).

Stiggins argues that performance assessment is becoming increasingly popular in schools. In this technique, student achievement is assessed through the professional judgment of a qualified assessor. Performance assessment requires a method of sampling "desired behaviors or products," as well as a defined set of performance criteria that acts as the standard for evaluation (p. 264). Alternative tools include new performance assessment methodologies (Stiggins).

Taylor et al. (1993) note that assessment within the special education field is also shifting, and that the field is moving "beyond the assessment = testing paradigm" (p. 113). Nonetheless, there appears to be a place for traditional assessment in the future, albeit in a somewhat modified version. Taylor notes that norm-referenced testing will begin to focus on fewer tests that have been researched more thoroughly. Further, identifying learning disabilities in the future will focus on new assessment procedures focusing on identifying underlying processes like metacognition and phonological processing. In addition, Taylor et al. note that consumers will demand that norm-referenced measures be technically adequate.

Teacher-oriented assessment is expected to become an increasingly important part of the assessment of students with special education needs. Student performance will continue to increase in terms of range and diversity, encouraging teachers to adopt assessment procedures that are selective, accessible, and relevant. As large-scale assessment studies continue to show poor overall educational performance, teachers will be held more accountable for the acheivement of their students, thus creating a need for high technical standards in assessment within the classroom (Taylor et al., 1991).

This shift in assessment can be an important consideration in the development of instructional plans for students with special needs. Given that student assessment seems to be moving toward a teacher-oriented assessment that is focused on performance assessment, educational goals will likely shift to support this type of assessment. Certainly, given that assessment is defined simply as "The process of gathering and interpreting information about individual students for the purpose of educational decision making" (Professional Development Support Program), it is logical to assume that teachers who are given the responsibility for assessment will also focus on educational decision making that supports such assessment.

As such, in the future, the relationship between assessment, teaching, and learning in the special needs environment will likely become more integrated and interdependent. In this future, the separation between teaching and assessment will begin to disappear, as the teacher becomes the assessor.