Assessmenti stheprocessofcollecti

nginf
ormati
onaboutachi l
d’sstr
engthsandneeds.It
usesapr oblem-sol
v i
ngprocessthatinvolvesasy
stemati
ccollect
ionaswel lasi
nter
pretati
on
ofdat
agat hered(Salvi
aetal.2013).Teachersandadmini
str
atorsmakei nstr
ucti
onaldecisi
on
basedont heassessmentr esul
t.

AssessmentPur
poses

Assessmentandt estingareoftentreat
edsy nonymouslyyett
heyreallyaren'
tthesame.Testi
ng
i
sj ustonepieceoftheassessmentpr ocess.Assessmentencompassesmanydi ff
erent
methods
ofev al
uat
ion,oneofwhi chisusingtests.
Ther esul
tsofanassessmentar eusedtodecidef
ora
childi
dent
ifi
edtohav eadditi
onalneeds.Progressmoni t
ori
ngandev aluat
ionofteaching
programsandser vi
cesi sanother,
thepurposeofwhi chistodeterminehowef f
ecti
veprogr
ams
aretoassi
sttheincl
usi v
eteacherandt hespecialeducati
onteacher(Guil
i
ani &Pier
angelo)

Deci
sionmaki
ngi
ntheassessmentpr
ocessandt
hei
rpur
poses

1.Ev
aluat
ionDeci
sions:
toev
aluat
est
udentpr
ogr
ess

2.Di
agnost
icDeci
sions:
todi
agnoset
hespeci
fi
cnat
ureoft
hest
udent
'spr
obl
emsordi
sabi
l
ity

3.El
igi
bil
i
tyDecisi
ons:
todet
ermi
newhet
herachi
l
dhasadi
sabi
l
ityandi
sel
i
gibl
eforspeci
al
educat
ionser
vices.

4.I
EP(IEPDevel
opment)Deci
sions:
toprovi
dedet
ail
edi
nfor
mat
ionsot
hatanI
ndi
vi
dual
i
zed
Educat
ionPr
ogram (
IEP)maybedev el
oped.

5.Educati
onalPl
acementDeci
sions:
appr
opr
iat
edeci
sionsmaybemadeaboutt
hechi
l
d's
educati
onalpl
acement

6.I
nstr
ucti
onalPl
anni
ngDeci
sions:
todev
elopandpl
ani
nst
ruct
ionappr
opr
iat
etot
hechi
l
d's
speci
alneeds.
 Ther
eareav ari
etyofassest hatr
egularandspeci
aleducat
ionteacher
scanuse.
Int
ervi
ew–
I
saninter
acti
oninwhi chtheteacherpresent
sastudentwit
hplannedsequenceofquest
ion,
l
i
stentoresponse,asksfurt
herquest
ion,andrecor
ddata.

Obser
vat
ion–isadirectmeansf
orl
ear
ningaboutst
udent
s,i
ncl
udi
ngwhatt
heydoordonot
knowandcanorcannot.

Checkl
i
stsorr
ati
ngscal
es-i
tisat
ool
usedt
oobser
vest
udent
s'ski
l
landbehav
ior
.

Met
hodsofassessment
Test-

Schoolpsychologist
s,educationaldiagnostici
ans,andotherrel
atedpr
ofessionalsuseav ari
ety
ofassessmentt oolstoensurethatresultsarevali
dandr eli
able.Norm-r
eferencedtests-these
arestandardi
zedassessment st
hatcompar eachil
d’sper f
ormancewithar epresent
ati
vesample
ofstudentsofthesamechr onologi
cal age.Forexampl eIntel
li
gencet
estsandAchi evement
test
s.

Inf
ormalAssessment-Alsocall
ednon-st
andardi
zedassessment s.
Thi
sisconsideredmor e
authent
ict
huscanbeusedpr imari
lyt
odescri
betheperfor
manceandi nfor
mi nstr
uction.Such
assessmentscanbecurr
icul
um-basedorperfor
mance-based,suchastheteacher-
made
i
nstrument
susedi ncl
assroomsandpor t
fol
ioassessments.ForexamplePortfol
io.

Met
hodsofassessment

Test-School
psychol
ogist
s,educat
ionaldi
agnosti
cians,
andotherrel
atedpr
ofessi
onal
susea
var
iet
yofassessmenttool
stoensurethatr
esult
sarev al
idandreli
abl
e.

Norm-r
eferencedtests-thesear
est andar
dizedassessmentst
hatcompareachi
l
d’s
perf
ormancewi tharepresent
ati
vesampleofstudentsofthesamechronol
ogi
calage.For
exampleIntel
l
igencetestsandAchievementtestsSamson

Crit
eri
on-refer
encedt est
s-Itistocompar eachi
ld’sperf
ormancebasedon
establ
ishedstandardsandcompet enciesandcanbeusedt odescribestudent
perfor
mance. (Jenningsetal.2006citedinSpinell
i2012)Forexampl eisScore,
Lett
ergradesand
etc.
Suchassessmentdat aar emor eusefulandrelevant
ast heseprovi
despecifi
cskil
l
sachi l
d
hasmast eredandt hosethatneedaddi ti
onali
nstruct
ion(Gar giul
o2012) .