Chapter 6 Curriculum-based assessment: The most effective way to assess students with disabilities

Abstract

There has been a grass roots movement among parents and educators requiring answers to precise questions about students’ academic learning behaviors in relation to actual classroom instruction – a movement that is requiring the very character of educational assessment to assume a more direct role in determining the instructional needs of students. Both parents and teachers want their children to receive a good education and to be successful in school relative to their developmental skills. To achieve this, there is no better or more immediate way than through assessing how well children function in relation to the daily instruction they are receiving within their classroom assignments. Clearly, the curriculum establishes itself as the relevant medium for assessing both students’ needs and the directions to be taken by teachers in meeting those needs (McLaughlin & Lewis, 2001). Progress monitoring has of late been on the agenda of educational policy decision makers and administrators. With standard-based reform and school accountability at the forefront of educational policy (e.g., No Child Left Behind Act of 2001), it has become clear that if all students are to meet rigorous academic standards, assessment tools are needed to track student progress toward those standards and to quickly and accurately identify students at risk for failing to read them. Moreover, some have suggested the use of progress monitoring as part of a nondiscriminatory, response-to-intervention approach for special education referral and identification (Fuchs & Fuchs, 2006; Speece, Case, & Molloy, 2003). For students receiving special education services, progress monitoring is viewed as a way to uphold major tenets of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA, 2004) by aligning goals and objectives on Individualized Education Programs with performance and progress in the general curriculum (Nolet & McLaughlin, 2000).

Citation

Obi, S. (2010), "Chapter 6 Curriculum-based assessment: The most effective way to assess students with disabilities", Obiakor, F.E., Bakken, J.P. and Rotatori, A.F. (Ed.) Current Issues and Trends in Special Education: Identification, Assessment and Instruction (Advances in Special Education, Vol. 19), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 87-97. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0270-4013(2010)0000019009