Assessments & Data

What Should Staff know About Assessment in Special Education?

Requirements Overview

IDEA and case law regarding special education has established numerous requirements around the evaluation of students. For example,

Evaluations of students with suspected disabilities require written parent consent and must be comprehensive (i.e., cover all areas of suspected disability, not based on a single measure), completed within 60 school-calendar days, and conducted in a nondiscriminatory manner. They can not consist of a single procedure being used as the sole criterion for determining disability.
Reevaluations must be conducted: 1. when the educational or related services’ needs warrant them (e.g., improved academic achievement and functional performance); 2. before terminating a child’s eligibility for special education; 3. when requested by parents and determined appropriate by the evaluation planning team; and 4. at least every three years, unless parents and MRSD staff agree that a reevaluation is unnecessary.
If a student with a disability is receiving IEP services in a core area of instruction, the District includes the student in statewide assessments, unless an exemption is requested by the parent. Students who participate in Oregon’s Extended Assessment (see below) will not participate in Oregon’s general assessments.
IEPs state how "satisfactory educational progress" will be determined for students and IEP goals clearly describe the anticipated outcomes, including intermediate steps if appropriate, that serve as a measure of progress toward the goal.

Standardized Testing

Most of the assessments used in special education evaluations are standardized and norm referenced. Norm-referenced tests compare a students performance against another group. For example, most cognitive and academic tests compare the students performance against that of other children of the same age.

Although several types of standardized scores can be helpful in understanding student performance, percentile ranks may be the easiest to understand. Percentile ranks represent the percentage of scores that are the same or lower than the student’s score. Put another way, a student who scored at the 50th percentile performed the same or better than 50 out 100 individuals his or his age.

For a practical example, the student with the following scores on the Woodcock-Johnson Fourth Edition Tests of Achievement (WJ-IV) is able to generate relevant and detailed sentences at the same level as most other students his age. In contrast, his ability to read sentences with missing words and provide words to complete them (i.e., Passage Comprehension) is less developed than many other students his age (i.e., as high as or higher than 14 percent of students his age). More concerning, his math reasoning skills are underdeveloped to a degree that is uncommonly seen; 99 out of 100 students outperform him in this area.

Behavior ratings from his teacher on the Behavior Assessment System for Children - Third Edition (see below; *note higher percentile ranks on this assessment indicate higher levels of problems) likely provide a partial explanation of his difficulty with math reasoning, as he shows more problems with anxiety than 98 out of 100 students his age and more problems with attention than 99 out of 100 students his age. *Note higher percentile rankings on adaptive rating scales tend to indicate higher levels of skills. Despite his anxiety and attention problems, this student appears to possess the same amount of social skills as most students his age (i.e., 37th percentile).

Who Determines an Evaluation is Needed?

Referrals for special education evaluation can be made by teachers, IPS teams, parents, etc. Once a referral has been made, an evaluation planning team is assembled. The evaluation planning team determines whether an evaluation is needed and what testing is necessary to examine all areas of suspected disability.

What Should Evaluation Planning Teams Consider When Determining the Need for Additional Data in Reevaluations?

Coming soon!

How Can Curriculum-Based Measurement be Integrated into Progress Monitoring?

Curriculum-Based Measurement is a classroom assessment procedure where tests (or probes) are administered weekly and all skills in the instructional curriculum are assessed by each probe across the year. Teachers use the results to evaluate not only their students’ progress but also the effectiveness of their current instructional methods. The following implementation guidance is from: The Iris Center

Step 1: Create or select appropriate tests (called probes) for the student’s grade and skill level. Each probe contains different but equivalent items and assesses skills taught from the beginning of the year to those taught at the end of the year. As the year progresses, students should get more items correct on each subsequent probe.

Step 2: Administer and score probes at regular intervals (weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly). Probes are administered and scored the same way every time to ensure that the scores are reliable (that is, suggest that a student will achieve a similar score if the test was re-administered) and valid (that is, that the targeted skills are the ones being tested).

Step 3: Graph the scores. Graphing is an integral part of using CBM. By watching their progress in such an easily understood format, students can see the relationship between their effort and their increased academic proficiency. Teachers are also able to make quicker instructional decisions by looking at a student’s graph rather than relying on a list of scores.

Step 4: Set goals. It is crucial to indicate the expected level of proficiency that students will demonstrate by the end of the school year and the amount of growth expected in shorter periods of time (e.g., weekly goals).

Step 5: Make instructional decisions based on CBM data. Teachers can determine whether an educational intervention is working or needs to be changed.

Step 6: Communicate progress. Provide students, parents, and other educational professionals with information about student progress throughout the school year using CBM data and graphs.

DRA2 Cut Points .pdf

DRA2 Reading Levels.pdf

IRLA Conversion Chart .pdf

What Should I Know About Behavior Assessments and Data?

What is Baseline Behavior Data?

Once you have defined a target problem behavior and obtained consent for an FBA, you are ready to begin collecting data. Baseline data refers to a set of data collected before intervention occurs. For example, the chart to the right shows the frequency of Jonny's problem and replacement behavior over five days of data collection.

How do I Collect Behavior Data?

The answer to this question depends on what you are trying to observe. The Data Collection Guide and Forms below has most types of questions staff have about behavior with associated data collection procedures and forms (Click here to make a copy of the Data Collection Guide and Forms for your own use).

Data Collection Methods

What Cognitive Abilities are Most Relevant to Academic Performance?

What are Extended Assessments?

Extended assessments are designed for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities, typically characterized by severe general cognitive functioning (intelligence test scores <=50) and commensurate deficits in adaptive behavior.

2018-2019 Recommendations from J. Hall

1) Hold training prior to Winter Break

2) Do a full day training instead of a 1/2 day. - Teachers would need laptops and headphone (video proficiencies)

3) In the teachers individual online training there are three sections of video trainings one for each test (ELA, Math and Science). View those videos together for discussion.

4) Allow time for teachers to complete online proficiencies at the end of the training day.

5) Check the Admin side of the Qualified Trainer information frequently to spot anyone that is overwhelmed and has not completed the proficiencies.

6) If possible, assessors should test prior to spring break

Extended Assessment Decision Making Guidance

Extended Assessment Guidance.pdf

Note: starting 9/2015, Oregon Individual Education Plan (IEP) teams will be required to select the Oregon’s Extended Assessment as the only option for all subject areas assessed. Students who participate in Oregon’s Extended Assessment will not participate in Oregon’s general assessments.

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