This course focuses on practical, applied assessment practices and procedures for teachers of students with special needs. Teachers who take the course will have the opportunity to learn about the latest tests and measurement procedures for children and youth with disabilities. The course emphasizes appraisal processes that teachers can use in their classrooms to help their students grow, learn, and develop to the maximum extent possible.

Syllabus • Activities • Text • Evaluation • Assignments

SYLLABUS

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ON-LINE ACTIVITIES

• Virtual Class Meetings
• Online Study Groups
• Threaded Discussion Forums
• Weekly Electronic Course Evaluations
• Weekly Electronic Journals
• Electronic Glossary Excercises
• On-line Exams Including Practice Tests

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TEXT

Assessing Students with Special Needs, Second Edition
This website describes the second edition of my textbook published by Merrill/Prentice Hall. The site provides a summary of the book and explains the new features that appear in the revision.

Website for Assessing Students with Special Needs
This is the website for the book. The site provides access to a wealth of resources including online tests. Students can test their knowledge by taking multiple choice sample quizzes that provide immediate feedback with a percentage score and correct answers. They can also practice higher-level thinking skills by responding to sample essay questions.

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EVALUATION

Course Assignments

*Class Participation
The final grade will be adjusted based on class participation. Class participation includes, but is not limited to, contributing to threaded on-line discussions and participating in chat room discussions. Poor participation will result in reduction of the final grade.

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ASSIGNMENTS

Curriculum-Based Assessment Project
The curriculum based-assessment project (CBA Project) involves developing and field testing a curriculum-based assessment instrument (CBA instrument). CBA is an approach in which teachers measure educational performance based-on the progress of their students in the curriculum in their classrooms and the students' individual IEP goals and objectives. CBA does not rely on student performance as measured by formal, standardized, norm-referenced tests. Instead, CBA uses class tests, homework assignments, classwork, and teacher impressions (based on direct observation) to make assessment decisions.

Common CBA instruments include teacher-made checklists that measure specific skills such as the academic skills of reading, spelling, and math. Examples of checklists and other types of CBA appear in the class text on pages 209-214 and 221-225. Other commonly used CBA tools include observations of behavior, rating scales, and error pattern analysis. Examples of these types of CBA appear throughout the textbook. Please look over the pages cited above and other chapters as well for ideas about the different types of CBA. After you have reviewed various types of CBA, you will need to select the CBA procedure that you want to use for your project.

Finally, you will create your own CBA which you will field test with three students. For example, you may decide to create and try out a reading skills checklist. The chapter in the class text on assessing reading achievement includes several examples of reading skills checklists. If you decide to use a reading skills checklist, you should use the examples in this chapter as a guide for developing your checklist. Alternatively, you may wish to develop an error pattern analysis procedure for measuring math skills. The chapter on assessing mathematics contains examples of how to conduct error pattern analysis.

After you have developed your CBA, you will have the opportunity to conduct an informal field test of the instrument with three students. You will present the results of your CBA Project in a brief three or four page report.

Norm-Referenced Testing Project
The norm-referenced testing project (NRT Project) consists of a three to four page case-study report that you will write based-on the assessment results produced by giving an individually-administered, norm-referenced achievement test to a student with special needs.

For this project, you should use a student with special needs who could benefit from receiving diagnostic assessment with a norm-referenced test. You will select a particular test to use for the NRT Project from among a variety of available tests. For example, commonly used achievement tests include the Peabody Individual Achievement Test - Revised, the Keymath Diagnostic Arithmetic Test - Revised, and the Weschler Individual Achievement Test. You may read about these and other norm-referenced achievement tests in the class text (chapters 14-17). These tests and many others like them are available for check-out from UNF. FDLRS Centers and many schools also have copies of these tests which you may be able to use for this project.

Once you obtain a suitable test, you will need to practice giving it until you become proficient in the particular administration procedures of the test. After becoming comfortable with the administration and scoring procedures, you will give the test to a student with special needs. Finally, you will write a case study report that explains the test results and provides recommendations for remediation. Guidelines for writing your case study report along with examples of case studies appear in chapter 12 of the class text on pages 394-405.

Individual Reading Assignment
After the midterm you will be asked to select five chapters for individual reading and study. Your assignment will be to complete the learning activities at the end of each chapter that you select for individual study, to post comments about what you are learning in your individual study on the threaded discussion boards, to reflect on your learning in your weekly electronic journal, and to evaluate what you are learning through the weekly course evaluation system.

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