Assessing Learners With Special Needs : An Applied Approach - 4th edition

The process of assessing students with special needs continues to change. The fourth edition of Assessing learners with Special Needs: An Applied Approach was written to reflect the changes in the assessment process.

Like earlier editions, the primary focus of this text is to provide students with a practical applied approach for learning about the complex procedures of the assessment process. This latest revision incorporates the federal regulations for the IDEA 1997 Amendments and includes the following changes:

• Application exercises that reflect increasing consideration of learners from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
• Issues and practices of high-stakes assessment of learners with special needs
• Issues and practices of transition planning for learners with special needs Issues and practices of functional behavioral assessment of learners with special needs
• Case examples that provide students with experiences in the interpretation of data from reevaluations and comprehensive evaluations of learners from culturally and linguistically diverse environments
• Case examples that provide students with exercises involving considerations for transition planning, functional behavioral assessment, and educational planning for various ages
• Opportunities for students to participate in team meetings to determine the outcomes for the case examples
• Opportunities for students to complete short-term behaviorally stated objectives or benchmarks and long-term goals for case examples

This text presents complex concepts in a step-by-step manner and provides students with practice exercises for each step. Students also have portions of assessment instruments, protocols, and scoring tables provided as part of their practice exercises. Students will participate in the educational decision-making process using data from norm-referenced instruments, informal assessment data, and functional behavioral assessment data. Students will have the opportunity to plan for appropriate statewide assessment accommodations in application exercises.

The text is divided into four parts. Part 1, "Introduction to Assessment," introduces students to the assessment process and the federal laws and regulations governing that process. Professional standards and ethical considerations are included in Part 1.

Part 2, "Technical Prerequisites of Understanding Assessment," addresses the topics of descriptive statistics, reliability, validity, and the basic mechanics of administering tests. This part also presents both individualized assessment and group assessment, including high-stakes testing.

Part 3, "Assessing Students," includes numerous norm-referenced instruments, informal instruments, techniques for informal assessment, and behavioral assessment. It also covers the issues and practices of assessing young children and youth who are transitioning to adulthood.

Part 4, "Interpreting Assessment for Educational Intervention," discusses interpreting test results for interventions and eligibility decisions, writing test results, and using test results to write short-term objectives and long-term goals. Students using this text will draw on the information in these chapters to conduct team meetings in order to reach educational decisions.

At the end of most chapters the reader will find exercises to review and reinforce the chapter content. Because Chapter 13, "Case Studies," is completely an application chapter, it does not include the end-of-chapter exercise.

Overton, Terry : University of Texas - Pan American

PART I: INTRODUCTION TO ASSESSMENT.

1. An Introduction.
2. Laws, Ethics, and Issues.

PART II: TECHNICAL PREREQUISITES OF UNDERSTANDING ASSESSMENT.

3. Descriptive Statistics.
4. Reliability and Validity.
5. An Introduction to Norm-Referenced Assessment.

PART III: ASSESSING STUDENTS.

6. Tests of Educational Achievement.
7. Standardized Diagnostic Testing.
8. Informal Assessment Techniques.
9. Assessment of Behavior.
10. Measures of Intelligence and Adaptive Behavior.
11. Special Considerations in Assessment.

PART IV: INTERPRETING ASSESSMENT FOR EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTION.

12. Interpreting Assessment for Educational Intervention.
13. Case Studies.

Name Index.
Subject Index.