Special Needs Assessment: A Review of Recent Literature on Testing Students with Special Needs
One of the most difficult and controversial issues in education today is the question of identifying, testing and educating students with potential special needs and different learning styles. On one hand, individuals within the system of education wish to be inclusive in nature. They do not wish to label students permanently to the detriment of their educational advancement. However, ignoring the special challenges some students face can be just as detrimental as tracking students too early into a special education niche. Furthermore, the increased demand for testing students of all levels of innate ability to verify the competency of individual instructors and the performance of students within particular districts on the whole means that the issue of testing students with special needs is unlikely to go away soon. It is a problem that all educators must take a stand on. (Airasian, 2001)
The educator Alba Ortiz, in her article "English Language Learners With Special Needs: Effective Instructional Strategies" from the 2001 ERIC Digest tackles the specific issue of students with dual special needs, namely those who do not speak English as their primary language. This gives Ortiz a unique and surprising perspective upon the subject. She suggests that the current system of special education assessment is faulty. The over-representation of English language learners in special education classes is a clear indication, in her view, that educators have a demonstrable difficulty in distinguishing students who truly have learning disabilities from students who are...
Thus, efforts aimed at helping teachers to avoid harmful stereotyping of students often begin with activities designed to raise teachers' awareness of their unconscious biases." (1989) Cotton goes on the relate that there are specific ways in which differential expectations are communicated to students according to the work of: "Brookover, et al. (1982); Brophy (1983); Brophy and Evertson (1976); Brophy and Good (1970); Cooper and Good (1983); Cooper and
In their study, "Thinking of Inclusion for All Special Needs Students: Better Think Again," Rasch and his colleagues (1994) report that, "The political argument in favor of inclusion is based on the assumption that the civil rights of students, as outlined in the 1954 decision handed down in Brown v. Board of Education, which struck down the concept of 'separate but equal,' can also be construed as applying to special
It would not only be time consuming and expensive for each classroom teacher to develop an effective basic reading skills curriculum but such a curriculum is also fraught with a high degree of error. There is compelling evidence that supports the use of scripted programs rather than teacher-developed approaches to teach complex skills (Benner, 2005). Second, apply positive behavioral supports to manage the behaviors of students with behavioral difficulties during
Student Assessment What is the most appropriate way to assess student achievement? The commission of the National Middle School Assessment of student achievement suggests "authentic assessment refers to evaluation that makes use of real life tasks instead of contrived test items." (NMSA, 2000) In other words, rather than focus on testing students more, a greater interest and study of effective teaching practices are better employed in further research regarding education.
PRE-REFERRAL SCREENING School Psychologist Special Education Assessment Pre-Referral Screening/RTI ProcessAbstractChildren with special needs require specialized interventions that help them attain the desired educational and behavioral goals the same as other students. These desires attract different forms of interventions, most of which focus on the steps that should be followed to enroll students in special programs. The procedures constitute pre-screening and pre-referral. The two serve as the assessment tools to determine
Review of LiteratureIntroductionTeachers are responsible for students success and achievement. A student who passes well in school has a chance of acquiring numerous opportunities in the global market. However, students who fail in school are likely to fall into poverty or be dependent on others. Hence, teachers are tasked with ensuring that the needs of all students are met. Fortunately, there has been lots of evidence to prove that Response
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now