School psychologists familiar with the autism evaluation process have an awareness of the complexity of this school-based process. This paper provides school clinicians with an introduction to a visual framework and descriptive language to think and talk about the complex students they evaluate in positive, nuanced, and accessible terms. This…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) aims to ensure that all students are college- and career-ready by requiring all schools to implement high-quality accountability systems and services for students. The ESSA impacts assessment practices in schools by requiring staff to account for a broader range of variables related to student well-being,…

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders in children, affecting approximately 0.5% to 1% of children through the age of 16 years. Between 20,000 and 45,000 children are diagnosed annually with newly recognized seizures with the median age of onset between 5 and 6 years of age. In 2018 the Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimated…

Suicide remains the third leading cause of death among young people in the United States. Considering that youth who contemplate suicide generally exhibit warning signs before engaging in lethal self-harm, school-based mental health professionals can play a vital role in identifying students who are at risk for suicidal behavior. Nevertheless, the…

The purpose of this Guidebook is to describe the process and basic requirements for the student learning measures that are used as part of the support professional evaluation and support process. For aspects of the process that have room for flexibility and school/district-level discretion, the different options have been clearly separated and…

Psychoeducational tests often are used to analyze the mental processes that affect academic potential and explore the possibility of a co-occurring disability. These evaluations may provide misleading results for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. Deriving accurate, useful results from academic and psychoeducational testing may require…

As shown by MetLife's 2010 "Survey of the American Teacher," America's educators strongly believe that all students should graduate from high school ready for college and a career (85 percent). Additionally, according to MetLife's 2009 survey, 86 percent of teachers believe that setting high expectations for students will improve student…

How often school counselors performed various assessment and evaluation activities is reported. The results in this article provided the rationale for development of the Competencies in Assessment and Evaluation for School Counselors, a joint project of the American School Counselor Association and the Association for Assessment in Counseling…

National school counselor certification examinations and state credentialing standards require knowledge of and skill development in assessment (California Commission on Teacher Credentialing [CCTC], 2001; National Board for Certified Counselors, 1998). And, professional associations have specified assessment competencies (American School…

This article describes the incorporation of humanistic strategies and interactive activities for counselor educators who teach counseling courses in assessment or appraisal. This information helps demonstrate the utility of practical humanistic knowledge and skills for this important Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational…

Resolution of serious behavior problems requires individual functional assessment of the events that predict and maintain the challenging behavior and identification of contextual factors that are relevant to effective behavioral support. Functional assessment can involve review of school records, interviews, rating scales, direct observation, and…

Because technology is more prevalent and accessible for use in assessment, this article highlights what counselors and educators need to know when considering the use of computers and the Internet for that purpose. The article concludes with some predictions on how technology might influence assessment and accountability in the future. This…

This manual, intended to help administrators, specialists, and teachers in Alberta, Canada, understand a problem-solving, process-based approach to assessment of special needs students using multiple sources of information. Assessment outcomes are viewed as describing needs and influencing education programs, rather than being used to provide…

This training module includes a trainer's manual and a participant's manual designed for school psychologists and concerned with the appraisal process for students with suspected handicapping conditions. The instructor's guide presents a script for covering seven major steps in the appraisal process (sample subtopics in parentheses): (1) pre…

Aligned with its 1998 standards for first- and second-language learning, Alberta Learning has published lesson plans that aim for a closer relationship between learning and evaluation. Each volume in this series presents a specific task for students that involves planning, carrying out, and evaluating their work. The task for tenth grade students…