Gathering, interpreting and conveying diagnostic information to parents of multiply handicapped children is an essential first step in the child's development. Assessment should investigate response to materials, teaching methods and reinforcers. Communication with parents can be enhanced through enlisting their participation in the evaluation…

New procedures for assessing the behavior of children in an environmental context are available to the school psychologist. The procedures, which are sometimes called psychosituational or informal assessments, examine the influence of the external environment as setting the occasion for emotional and behavioral problems. (Author)

Discussed are the relative merits of two currently popular models of assessing children--the ability assessment and task analysis models. (CL)

Available from: Council for Exceptional Children, 1920 Association Drive, Reston, Virginia 22091. The article describes an "ecological" or "total" model for the assessment of learning disabled children and youth which considers the interaction of all relevant factors, including deficits or strengths within the student, teacher variables, the…

Existing research indicates that there is a disproportionate number of students with cultural and linguistic differences, English Language Learners (ELL), who are misidentified as learning disabled when their problems are due to cultural and/or linguistic differences. As a consequence, these students do not receive appropriate services. With the…

Performance assessment (observational assessment) can be an effective alternative to traditional paper and pencil tests when measuring academic achievement. Benefits of performance tests include: (1) testing knowledge synthesis rather than just knowlege acquisition; (2) allowing for diagnosis of individual needs and an immediate adjustment of…

Three activities are presented to assess the level of students' geometric understanding according to van Hiele learning model. The activities--Descriptions, Minimum Properties, and Class Inclusion--are applied to the example of classifying quadrilaterals as squares, rectangles, rhombi, or parallelograms. Implications of this assessment are…

Presents the elementary-level formative evaluation method of functional diagnosis that gives students immediate feedback on completed assignments. Gives three examples of the method as observed in the classrooms of master teachers: putting red dots next to problems needing attention; paired learning, and student answer keys. (MDH)

The issue of Directions contains 11 articles on assessment of hearing impaired individuals. Entries have the following titles and authors: "Classroom Assessment Techniques for Hearing Impaired Students--A Literature Review" (B. McKee, M. Hausknecht); "Informal Assessment of Hearing Impaired Students In the Classroom" (B. Culhane, R. Hein);…

Factors involved in evaluating multiply handicapped children are examined. Described are instruments and techniques for measuring three central concerns: (1) the extent to which the impairments limit the child's functioning (including the Test of Auditory Discrimination and the Children's Embedded Figures Test); (2) the child's ability to complete…

The purpose of this study was to explore whether, and if so how, ongoing measurement and evaluation procedures affect the instruction that special educators provide and the educational decisions that they make. Eighteen experimental group teachers employed specific continuous evaluation procedures while 21 contrast group teachers employed…

Presented is a review of the research on the benefits of using writing to evaluate students' understanding of mathematics. Results indicate that student writing provides a rich resource for assessing student understanding, can have a direct influence in teachers' instructional practices, and can positively influence student-teacher interaction…

This article discusses the meaning of evaluation for teachers and students, reasons for evaluating students, and evaluative methods teachers might use. First, three principles of evaluation are presented: students should know the criteria for judging good and bad work; every student should have an opportunity to succeed at one type of evaluation;…

Presents an overview of issues in the educational assessment of children with learning and behavior disorders. The issues discussed relate to the: focus of assessment, types of abilities evaluated, methods used, technical adequacy of available measures, personnel involved in assessment, assessment of culturally different children, and involvement…