response the questions

CHAPTER 11:
Student Evidence for Special Education Qualification & High-Quality Services

Assessment in Special Education

Raymond H. Witte

Jane E. Bogan

Michael F. Woodin

Witte, Bogan, Woodin, Assessment in Special Education. © 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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Issues with Response to Intervention (RtI)

RtI: may be used as a method for determining the presence of a specific learning disability

• Using student data appropriately is essential to the success of the RtI process
• Law requires evidence that the student received high quality instruction in order to proceed with the identification of a learning disability.
• Teachers must document instructional practices used, monitor student progress frequently, & ensure that the student receives the appropriate level of intervention support.
• RtI is a single assessment tool
• Law requires decisions be made be made by a team using multiple forms of data from multiple instruments and/or sources.
• Some schools have chosen to use both an RtI model and the discrepancy model to ensure the use of multiple sources of data.

Witte, Bogan, Woodin, Assessment in Special Education. © 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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Issues with RtI

Teachers may not have sufficient training to administer progress monitoring assessments with standardized procedures.

• Law requires test administrators to be trained on the instrument they are using
• Teachers should receive appropriate training & professional development

Witte, Bogan, Woodin, Assessment in Special Education. © 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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Issues with Fair Assessment

IDEIA (2004) mandates the use of assessments that are both culturally and linguistically fair to students.

• Teachers must gather information about the student’s language proficiency and dominance before selecting interventions & monitoring student progress
• Academic readiness skills of diverse students should be assessed early in students’ school careers in order to implement interventions as soon as possible to close gaps in performance.

Witte, Bogan, Woodin, Assessment in Special Education. © 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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Providing High Quality Services

Embrace a model of prevention, not failure

Include the right people on the IEP team & provide training about roles, responsibilities, & expectations

Use draft IEPs as a point of discussion

IEP content should be broad enough to avoid unattainable expectations

Make educational recommendations based on student need, not on cost or availability of services

Use appropriate assessment tools & techniques to gather data

Use data from assessments to make decisions