This article describes strategies for integrating alternate assessments into the context of ongoing instruction and for enabling students with disabilities to take a more active role in the construction and self-evaluation of their own assessments. Fourth-grade, seventh-grade, and middle school examples of integrating assessment and instruction…

This paper presents a conceptual framework for organizing and relating the many confusing concepts associated with continuous assessment (CA) practices. Curriculum-based criterion-referenced CA is shown to have two major components: formative and summative assessment of student learning. The nature of these components and their interrelationships…

This practicum implemented a resource/consultative model in place of a pullout model that was failing to meet the needs of second grade students with specific learning disabilities (SLD), at-risk students, and regular and special educators. The practicum involved conducting team meetings, increasing faculty awareness, and implementing…

This paper reports on the findings of a longitudinal study that investigated the trends in reading growth for 49 elementary students with severe reading difficulties. The students received special education services in a large Midwestern city in which curriculum-based measurement (CBM) procedures were implemented fully. The study began when the…

This final report describes activities and accomplishments of a 3-year federally supported project that provided 326 students, ages 18-21, with developmental disabilities employment training through five community colleges and three K-12 system adult education systems. Program sites were in California, Iowa, Ohio, and North Carolina. The program…

Examines forces that shape the design of assessment systems for teachers and some inherent contradictions with regard to curriculum and assessment. Proposes a system of assessment that is continuous, dynamic, and principled and does not remove from teachers the responsibility of defining what is important to student learning. (SD)

This article considers current educational trends that may undermine the service delivery system for individuals with severe learning disabilities, including influence of terminology, teacher-training models, full inclusion, curriculum-based assessment, reliance on quantitative decision making, adherence to singular teaching methodologies, and…

A reference work that presents a chronology focusing on special education, its development, and the important issues that both positively and negatively affect the field. Updated through current events, this second edition provides an excellent introduction to special education in all of its practical aspects--how it developed, its curriculum,…

Sandhills Community College (SCC), in North Carolina, provides a guarantee to employers that graduates will be proficient in the areas of knowledge and skills covered by their educational programs. If an employer finds a Sandhills graduate deficient, the graduate can re-enroll in up to three courses at the college at no cost to the employer or…

Responding to an accrediting agency mandate for assessment of student outcomes. Earlham College (Richmond, Indiana), a liberal arts college, developed and implemented an assessment plan. The process began with review of the institutional identity and early identification of the philosophy and principles to guide the process. A timetable was…

This is a collection of case studies on the implementation of institutional assessment and evaluation of student outcomes in higher education. The cases are drawn from eleven institutions. Research universities and four-year colleges included were: Clemson University (South Carolina), State University of New York (Albany), University of Kentucky…

The United States is moving toward a more national, performance-based view of curriculum policy. The federal government will play a modest role in nationalizing curriculum policy issues, largely by pressuring states and localities through national standards. The chief agents of nationalization will continue to be state and locally based…

This paper reports results of a survey of 237 Massachusetts special education teachers in programs for students with significant disabilities as the teachers work to learn and use unitary standards-based curriculum. The study examined: familiarity of the teachers with the state's curriculum frameworks; variations in teachers' experiences and views…

Presents a diagnostic teaching unit designed to identify effective teaching strategies for fourth- or fifth-grade students with learning or behavior disorders. The unit uses "The Popcorn Book" (de Paola) for activities to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching strategies across the content areas of reading, writing, and mathematics. (CR)

This article discusses how special education reform movements continue to influence school practices regarding special education placement decisions and offers recommendations for promoting academic educational benefit for included students with mild disabilities. Schools are urged to make responsible decisions regarding inclusion by developing…