Types of Assessments
Academic Information
Measures of student performance as demonstrated on formative and summative assessments.
- Achievement – individually administered standardized tests that measure a student’s skills in a variety of academic areas.Examples: mathematics, reading, science and social studies
- Classroom Performance – information collected on the student’s learning and progress in the classroom. Examples: end of the chapter tests, portfolio assessment, classroom-based assessment, progress-monitoring data, interim assessments, benchmark assessments
- Teacher Report – information provided by any or all of the student’s current teachers
Adaptive Skills
Measures to determine skills necessary to function adequately within a person’s home, school or community environment. Examples: communication, self-care, home living, social skills, community use, self-direction, health and safety, functional academics, leisure and work.
Assistive Technology
Procedures to determine if a student requires devices or services to increase, maintain or improve functional capabilities. Examples: functional environmental evaluation to determine the need for devices including, but not limited to, a communication board, adapted equipment or computer software.
Behavioral Performance
Measures to determine a student’s behavioral, social and/or affective status. Examples: conduct in the classroom, ability to attend or focus, self-concept,emotional functioning, relationships with others
- Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) – structured process to determine the possible functions of a student’s behavior so interventions and modifications can be developed. Examples: systematic observations, data collection, interviews
Communication
Measures to determine skills necessary to understand and express information. Examples: speech sounds, oral language, phonemic awareness, facial expressions, body movements, gestures, touch
Developmental Skills
Procedures to determine the student’s early learning and school readiness. Examples: developmental milestones in communication, motor, cognitive, social emotional, self-help
Health
Acquisition of information to determine the effect of health concerns on educational performance. Examples: report of a medical diagnosis from a physician or health history
Hearing/Audiological
Measures to determine the student’s ability to hear or process language.
- Functional Listening Evaluation– assess how a student’s listening abilities are affected by noise, distance and visual input in the student’s natural listening environment
Information from the Parents
Acquisition of information from the parents to assist in evaluation and program planning. Examples: social/emotional, developmental history, student preferences, medical history, cultural influence, behavioral information
Intellectual Ability
individualized, standardized measures to assess a student’s ability or potential to learn. Examples: perception, cognition, memory, processing speed, verbal and non-verbal skills
Motor Skills
Measures to determine a student’s gross and fine motor development. Examples: mobility, muscle tone, balance, coordination, accessibility
Observation(s)
A purposeful study of the student in a variety of activities, situations and/or times at school, home or other settings. Examples: data collection of student behavior and/or performance in a variety of classes and/or unstructured settings
Perceptual-Motor
Measures to determine the student’s ability to convert what is seen to written form. Example: reproducing a pattern from a sample
Social Skills
Measures to determine the student’s ability to initiate and maintain positive relationships with others. Examples: making friends, problem-solving, cooperating with others, following rules, showing appreciation
Transition Assessments
A planned, continuous process of obtaining, organizing and using selected formal and informal information to assist students in decision-making and preparation for successfully meeting their goals and expectations from school to post- school activities.
Functional Vocational Evaluation
Real and simulated measures to determine a student’s ability to perform certain aspects of a work-related task and may include a purposeful study of the student in a variety of work-related activities. Examples: hands-on work samples, progress reports, job performance checklists
- Vocational Aptitudes-measures to determine prerequisite abilities pertaining to the world of work. Examples: manual dexterity, proof reading words and numbers, color discrimination
- Interests/Preferences– measures to assist with post-secondary planning, including schooling, employment and adult living. Example: career assessment inventory
Vision
Measures to determine the student’s functional vision and/or physical eye conditions. Examples: ophthalmological, optometrist report
- Orientation and Mobility– assesses the ability of the student who is low vision, blind, or deafblind in the use of his/her remaining senses to determine his/her position in the environment and in techniques for safe movement from one place to another. Examples: concept development, pedestrian safety, cane skills, route planning