The paper reviews the literature on problems associated with the assessment and placement of language minority students in special education and the utilization of a prereferral system and describes the development of the "Prereferral Screening Instrument" (PSI). The review of the literature looks at: the disproportionate representation…

Literature was reviewed for the purpose of locating an instrument or procedure for use in assessing children's readiness for the first grade. The major part of this report consists of annotated bibliographic citations concerning: (1) effects of age on school placement; (2) advisability of screening for readiness; (3) reviews of screening…

A description is provided of the work of the Student Assessment Task Force, which was charged by the Washington State Student Services Commission Executive Board to "provide leadership to the state system on the topic of assessment." Following background information on the charge of the task force and a statement of its objectives and…

This manual presents guidelines for users of the Child Development Assessment Form (CDAF) -- a 90 item checklist of behaviors characteristic of children from birth to 3 years of age. The CDAF is designed to help parents and teachers identify skills and behaviors that the child has developed and plan learning experiences that facilitate growth. The…

This report presents the major available evidence to date on the validity of the New Jersey College Basic Skills Placement Test (NJCBSPT). The findings are as follows: (1) results of two content-validity questionnaires show New Jersey college instructors to be in general agreement that the test content is appropriate and important to assess; (2)…

Almost all preschool screening programs depend entirely on information and observations obtained during a brief evaluative session with the child. However, the logistics involved in managing large numbers of parents and children, the use of volunteers having varying degrees of sophistication or competency in assessment, the reliability and…

During the academic year of 1978-1979, a system for the early identification of students who were likely to have difficulty with the core curriculum in language and/or mathematics was introduced into the London, Canada, system at the kindergarten and grade 1 levels. In the two subsequent years the early identification system was extended to grades…

the position statements of the Association for Retarded Citizens address major issues in early intervention for preschool age children with possible handicaps. Among statements offered are that public support should be maintained in maternal and child health block grant and in preschool incentive grants and demonstration programs; that…

The methodology and results of a kindergarten screening program which was designed to identify speech and language problems and provide intervention strategies through special and/or regular education programming are described. Eighteen speech therapists completed the Bankson Language Screening Test (BLST) for all kindergarten children in one…

The Regents Competency Program has two basic purposes: (1) to assure the early identification of students who need help in developing reading, writing, and mathematics skills and (2) to assure that students have acquired adequate competency in these skills before receiving a high school diploma. The New York State Preliminary Competency Test in…

A study was conducted at Morton College to determine the effect of students' sex, age, instructor, and placement test scores on grades in Rhetoric I and College Algebra during fall 1983. Study results included the following: (1) 24% of the variance in Rhetoric I grades was accounted for by a student's sex, age, instructor, and placement test…

Recent concern for the quality of education has placed pressure on school administrators to assess and upgrade the competency of their teaching staff. No simple formula exists for measuring teacher competency, however, nor are any new methods guaranteed to improve the quality of instruction. Nevertheless, through a combination of clinical…

Local teachers and other school personnel in Hawaii expressed a need for operational guidelines to use in deciding whether or not to refer students for diagnostic evaluations for specific learning disabilities (SLD). This project was designed to evaluate whether the Windward Rating Scale (WRS), a locally-developed teacher rating scale of student…

The prekindergarten program in the Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD) is described. The program was developed to meet the needs of disadvantaged four year old children. Students were chosen with respect to age, residence in a Chapter I attendance area, and a low score on the Preschool Screening Evaluation (PSE). Areas of learning…