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4. Assessment Issues in Special Education
- Gallaudet University Press
- Chapter
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PART 2 Supporting Educational Reform 63 [3.12.41.106] Project MUSE (2024-04-17 23:20 GMT) Introduction T he ongoing education reform movement has brought numerous education issues into sharp focus. As we have seen, few issues have received the attention and generated the controversy and polarization of perspectives as has the movement to include all children with disabilities in general classrooms. This section examines a range of supports that are necessary if inclusion is to be successful. Ongoing assessment of student learning is an essential aspect of effective teaching. School-based assessment involves collecting and synthesizing information about a problem. It is “an ongoing process which involves a wide array of materials, techniques, and tests across a variety of time periods and situations ” (Witt, Elliott, Kramer, and Gresham 1994, 5). The primary purpose of classroom assessment is to inform teachers and to improve learning, not to sort and select students or to justify a grade. In the opening chapter of this section, John Slate and Craig Jones address the controversial issue of assessment. They outline the parameters of current assessment practices in special education, indicate how assessment complies with statutory mandates, and then review documented criticisms of the current system , which include the technical inadequacy of many instruments, the lack of a link between assessment and pupil performance, and the categorical diagnoses. The authors then outline more appropriate and adequate procedures, such as curriculum-based measurement. It is probably trite to observe that technology is changing not only the world in which we all live and work but also classroom experiences for normally developing students and for those with special needs. However, the reality is that students today use word processors to prepare written assignments, and teachers maintain databases of their students’ achievements. As with many innovations in both general and special education, battles are raging—in this case, as to whether technology actually improves teaching and 65 learning. Some critics, for example, contend that “There is no good evidence that most uses of computers significantly improve teaching and learning” (Oppenheimer 1997). Nevertheless, technology has been a boon to individuals with disabilities in many ways that extend beyond computers and the Internet, such as the enormous range of adaptive equipment and augmentative communication devices. Maddux’s informative and comprehensive paper examines the technological revolution within special education. He examines the early but overly optimistic claims of education computing advocates and the problems that occurred at the outset. Maddux then takes the reader on a journey that touches on the potential of information technology in special education and an examination of various applications. He looks at trends in technology, their long-term effect, and a variety of tools and applications. Finally, he makes predictions about the future of technology in special education. In the past decade, both general and special education have responded in various ways to the clarion calls to restructure, reform, and reinvent. New paradigms and innovative practices have not passed teacher education by; indeed, the discourse on school reform very often includes references to reform in teacher education. New conceptual orientations and theories are giving fresh direction to teacher preparation as reformers seek to establish more coherent and effective programs. In the context of inclusive classrooms, many bold critics of teacher education reform have proposed both macro- and microeducation reforms (see Winzer, Altieri, and Larson, in press). One area of teacher education restructuring revolves around the entire question of increasing cultural, ethnic, and linguistic diversity in North American society. At the moment, ethnic minorities constitute approximately one-third of the U.S. population and, with increased birth rates and immigration trends, minority group numbers are increasing at a faster rate than those of the Anglo majority (see Delgado and Rogers-Adkinson 1999). As demographic trends shift, education practices will shape the futures of communities. Schools must accommodate all learners by developing programs and environments that enhance academic and social skills and that promote equity of education opportunities. Such needs have spawned an increasing interest in the topic of multicultural special education. Addressing diversity within the context of special education, the field has examined many aspects of the school population to be served (see chapter 12 of this text). But although scrutiny of the education outcomes of minority students has been prominent for several years, disturbing statistics remain on children’s achievement, and we have made little progress in disentangling cultural and linguistic differences from other attributes. At the same time, the area of special education...