Current Issues in Assessing Students with Special Needs

This chapter investigates critical issues and promising trends associated with the processes and procedures for assessing students with special needs. The chapter covers issues associated with formal standardized testing, informal classroom assessment, and accommodations in testing. The future trends considered include universal screening and universal progress monitoring. These assessment procedures rely on curriculum-based measurement techniques which provide high-fidelity data that facilitates early intervention. The chapter begins by defining key issues and presenting a conceptual framework. The framework is based on the steps in the assessment process including screening, identifying, intervening, and measuring progress. A detailed investigation of the issues follows the conceptual framework. Specific issues discussed include fairness in testing, accountability, barriers faced by practitioners, and selecting appropriate accommodations. The chapter ends with a discussion of the responsibilities and challenges faced by practitioners, policy makers, and researchers in responding to the significant issues in assessing students with special needs

The impact of standards-based reform on special education and the creation of the ‘dividual

An urban Pre-K through 5th grade school referred to as Westvale Elementary School was the focal point for this research study. Westvale was located within an urban district in New York State that was host to approximately 20,000 students. Both the school and the district were labeled as failing under the No Child Left Behind Act. Foucauldian conception of biopolitics and Deleuzian notion of the ‘dividual are the theoretical frameworks used to make meaning of qualitative data collected for this study. Interview, observation, and document data revealed how the structures of a biopolitical society hierarchized, segregated, and geographically shifted certain demographic groups of students throughout the school district based on their potential to succeed on high stakes examinations. Teachers and administrators were also linked to the demographics of the students they taught and mandates of standards-based reform (SBR) often required the turnover of school personnel, causing frustration and stigma for educators and students alike. Mandated teacher and leader evaluations were also found to increase fear of teaching students with disabilities because they were viewed as ‘dividuals within the biopolitical system that SBR exacerbated