The author, a kindergarten teacher, examines the effects of special needs intervention on classroom life. She comments that often a special education focus overemphasizes children's weaknesses. The author suggests that special educators and classroom teachers collaborate to produce an understanding of the context of individual children's lives.…

The reasons for using tests in early childhood programs are (1) to increase teachers' confidence in their role performance; (2) to explain and defend early childhood programs; (3) to promote consistency across programs; (4) to provide curriculum and instruction guidance to teachers; and (5) to focus teachers and parents on the more measurable…