Factors related to the assessment of learning disabled adolescents include their failure patterns, curriculum and social demands, and institutional factors. Assessment should focus on cognitive, affective, and institutional aspects. Informal assessment approaches can include interviews, observation, and trial teaching. (CL)

The article describes the Pupil Assessment Summary (PAS) designed to help educators organize data on students with behavior disorders using four categories: disturber element (focus of problem); problem behavior element (specific behaviors); setting element (when/where problem behavior occurs); and disturbed element (who regards the behavior as a…

Three types of informal assessment procedures (interest analysis, interviewing, and observation) are described as approaches to identifying areas of need in individualized programing for the gifted. (CL)

The authors offer examples of situations that can be used to allow for the display of traits often associated with the gifted. (SW)

Eighteen ways to informally evaluate cognitive objectives are discussed: grafitti walls; newspapers; card sorts; crossword puzzles; visualizing; debates; audio-visual narratives; ABC lists; concept trees; mini textbooks; incomplete charts; brainstorming; checking guides; logs and journals; drama; manipulative events; student-made tests; student…

A special educator reviews approaches for assessing the writing skills of learning disabled students (by both formal and informal methods), describes common problems, lists prerequisites (such as sufficient visual and motor memory), and suggests prewriting activities as well as ways to help specific writing weaknesses. (CL)

The authors present an informal assessment strategy format to aid teachers in meeting the needs of the handicapped student. The format includes an assessment sequence, how to analyze assessment results, and how to interpret results. (CT)

Suggests that social studies teachers need help in matching curriculum objectives and evaluation procedures. Outlines an evaluation method in which teachers pretest students, continually assess the full range of social studies activities, and combine subjective and objective procedures. (Author/KC)

Stages in developing mentally handicapped children's pretend play are outlined and techniques for assessing a child's play development are described. (SBH)

Argues that show-and-tell is an important school learning activity that gives students an opportunity to practice and improve their oral language abilities. Offers a technique for the informal assessment of show-and-tell activities. (FL)

Reasons for misidentifying intellectually gifted children through standardized tests are discussed, and a teacher nomination form for potentially gifted students is presented. (CL)

Intended for the teacher of handicapped children, the article describes some symptoms of language processing difficulty. Prerequisite skills for language comprehension are reviewed, and characteristics which can help to identify children with receptive language problems are listed. (SBH)

Describes recommended procedures for assessing reading readiness and the teaching of beginning reading for three- and four-year-old children. (Author/MP)

Describes a study done by the Middle School Math through Applications project (MMAP) on informal assessment. Discusses some valuable techniques that MMAP teachers and researchers developed for organizing informal assessment so that it produces a coherent story of student progress, helps students make more progress with greater focus, and…

Based on questions asked by teachers in classes, workshops, and conference sessions, this paper provides brief answers to eight of the most frequently asked questions about portfolio assessment. The questions answered in the paper are: (1) What is a portfolio?; (2) What should be put in the portfolio?; (3) How much should be put in the portfolio?;…