Assessing Children For The Presence Of A Disability

Putting It All Together: Interpreting Results and Summary

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Putting It All Together: Interpreting Results

Clearly, a vast quantity of information can be collected about many aspects -- virtually every aspect -- of a student's functioning. How is all this information put together and utilized to make eligibility and educational decisions about and for the student?

The interpretation of assessment results relies greatly upon the skills and experience of the individuals involved in the assessment process and the degree to which they work together as a team, pooling findings and discussing implications in a multidisciplinary way. All professionals responsible for any aspect of the assessment should prepare a written report on their findings or be prepared to present this information orally at the meeting where eligibility is determined or the student's Individualized Education Program (IEP) is developed. The report should not merely state the student's raw or derived test scores or the statistical quantification of observed behavior (e.g., x number of "out-of-seats" in y minutes), but should extend to the implications that can be drawn from the scores or behavior. The educational recommendations and insights of the professional should also be included. It is very important that each report be stated in a way that allows others on the team, including parents and teachers, to understand what was found, what the results mean, and what the professional recommends. The use of specialized, technical vocabulary -- jargon -- often obscures meaning and should be avoided or explained in lay terms.

Data gathered from all assessment procedures then need to be related and synthesized. When the team looks individually and globally at information gathered from observations, previous school experiences, review of prior records, tests, interviews, daily work assignments, and so on, what picture emerges of the student's areas of strength and need? What information appears to be contradictory? Where is more information or detail needed about the student to assist either in diagnosis or in instructional planning?

It is important to remember that all assessment involves error. What emerges from the assessment process is not a "true" picture of the student but, rather, a patchwork of pictures that have captured the student at various moments in time. The more comprehensively the assessment was conducted -- sampling or observing student behavior in different settings at different times, consultation with the family, interviewing those involved with the student, administering tests, ecologically assessing the student's environments, and so on -- the more comprehensive the picture of the student should be and the more informed decision-making will be as well.

Interpretation of results, then, should not end with the statement, "No, this student is not eligible for special education" or "Yes, he or she is eligible." The data need to be directly useful to the educational team in identifying the specific areas in which the student needs special instruction or accommodation (or, at the least, the areas in which additional evaluation or diagnosis is necessary) and in suggesting what type of instruction or educational program might be appropriate.

Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE)

Parents may disagree with the results of the school's evaluation or feel that the school did not conduct the evaluation appropriately (e.g., tested a language minority student solely in English or based eligibility decisions upon the use of only one test). The IDEA gives parents the right to obtain an independent educational evaluation. Parents may ask the school to pay for the IEE; the school may do so willingly, or they may request a due process hearing to show that their evaluation was, indeed, appropriate. If the hearing officer's decision is that the school system's evaluation was inappropriate, then the IEE will be at public expense (the school system pays). If, however, the evaluation was appropriate, then the parents may still obtain an IEE but they must pay for it. Regardless of who pays for the IEE, the school is obligated to consider the results of the evaluation at the eligibility or IEP development meeting. (For more information on the IDEA's stipulations regarding IEEs, request a copy of NICHCY's Questions and Answers About the IDEA.)

Individualized Education Program (IEP) Meeting

The student's educational program is planned and developed by a multi-disciplinary team of individuals and specified in the Individualized Education Program (IEP). Just as parents can contribute to the assessment process, they have much to share during the meeting where the IEP is developed, including their own perceptions and preferences as to the skill areas that might best be emphasized with their child. Therefore, when the assessment team and parents sit down to discuss assessment results and plan the student's educational program, it is vital that the parents participate fully. Parent Training and Information Centers (PTIs), which exist in every state, may be able to assist parents in regards to the IEP process and strategies for effective participation. For parents who are not native speakers of English, it may be essential for the school to provide an interpreter, so that parents can understand what is being discussed and offer their own insights and suggestions.

It is beyond the scope of this News Digest to discuss the IEP process in any depth (if you need information on this topic, you may contact NICHCY and talk to one of the information specialists). Briefly, however, the evaluation team, or at least one individual knowledgeable about how the student was evaluated and what results were obtained, will attend the meeting to present and explain what has been learned through assessing the student. Using this information, the team will then discuss what type of educational program would be appropriate for the student and begin specifying this in the IEP.

Summary

This News Digest has focused upon the assessment of school-aged children that is conducted (a) to determine if a child has a disability and is eligible for special services, and (b) to offer information that will drive educational programming.

Assessment is a complex process that needs to be conducted by a multi-disciplinary team of trained professionals and involve both formal and informal methods of collecting information about the student. While the team may choose to administer a series of tests to the student, by law assessment must involve much more than standardized tests. Interviews of all key participants in the student's education and observations of student behaviors in the classroom or in other sites should be included as well. To develop a comprehensive picture of the student and to develop practical intervention strategies to address that student's special needs, the team must ask questions and use assessment techniques that will help them determine the factors that are facilitating -- and interfering with -- the child's learning. Ecological assessment, dynamic assessment, curriculum-based assessment, learning styles inventories, and other less traditional approaches may be particularly helpful in answering such questions.

It is also important that assessment be an ongoing process. The process begins even before the student is referred for formal evaluation; his or her teacher or parent may have noticed that some aspect of the student's performance or behavior is below expectations and, so, requests an official assessment. After eligibility has been established and the IEP developed for the student, assessment should continue, through teacher-made tests, through ongoing behavioral assessment, or through incorporating curriculum-based assessment or task analysis into the classroom. This allows teachers and parents to monitor the student's progress towards the goals and objectives stated in his or her IEP. Thus, assessment should not end when the eligibility decision is made or the IEP is developed; it has great value to contribute to the daily, weekly, and monthly instructional decision-making that accompanies the provision of special education and related services.