Developmental dysgraphia refers to a grouping of neuropsychologically-based, specific learning disabilities that directly impact approximately 7-15% U.S. students (Feifer, 2013). Effective writing, including the use of fundamental and effective communication of ideas and content-specific knowledge in written form, are crucial not only for academic…

Solving well-structured problems often requires using considerable related concepts which are usually scattered and introduced throughout different learning units of a subject. In addition, poor learning of related concepts of preceding units may block the learning of subsequent units, and eventually leads to the inability to solve well-structured…

The rationale for assessment in special education is examined, and the importance of measuring student performance until mastery or proficiency of the skill/behavior has occurred is stressed. Guidelines are offered for determining proficiency. (CL)

A conceptually sound, research-based method is presented to make sense of students' thinking about length. It is suggested that the levels of framework is an important tool for improving instruction and formative assessment as well as effectively diagnosing and remediating students' difficulties in learning about length. Some of the measurement…

Disabled students (N=117) reading three passages were ranked by degree of implementation of a curriculum-based measurement and evaluation system. Comparison of top and bottom 27 percent revealed score differences on all passages, suggesting that a high degree of implementation of a technically adequate data system leads to greater achievement. (CL)

This special education research brief provides a synopsis of the steps in curriculum-based assessment (CBA) and lists resources that provide more detail on the method and applications of CBA. The described CBA method involves selecting or developing a method of measurement, assessing student knowledge, tailoring instruction to student needs, and…

The article summarizes a typology of 21 selected curriculum-based assessment (CBA) measures available to early childhood specialists serving handicapped children, including normal developmental CBA scales, adaptive measures, handicap-specific instruments, strategy-matched materials, and curriculum-referenced measures. (Author/JW)

The article describes the essential features of curriculum-based assessment (CBA) and provides suggestions for developing them. Special emphasis is placed on describing how teachers can use CBA results to place students into curriculum materials, adjust instruction based on their performance, and evaluate and communicate pupil progress. (Author/CL)

A series of field tests run over a 2 year period assessed the ability of 125 special education and regular teachers (5 inservice and 1 preservice group) to detect and accurately describe basic attributes of reading miscues before and after training using the Hypothesis/Test Reading Modules. A surprising outcome was the virtual lack of spontaneous…

An instructional-based model for evaluating learning disabled students focuses on the child's response to teaching rather than to testing. Observation and analysis of response to regular classroom teaching strategies form the basis of an assessment which yields results that are more readily translatable into practical remedial methods. (Author/CL)

Assessment procedures can be used to establish a baseline of strengths and weaknesses for young visually handicapped students, to record changes in students' performance, and to identify teaching steps. Selecting suitable assessment procedures requires consideration of their format, wording of the items, subscales, developmental range, reliability…

The article presents guidelines for transforming information from conventional testing into data useful in classroom instruction of exceptional students. Steps are described first for converting a norm referenced test to instructionally relevant information, and second, for applying, rescoring, and summarizing results of the criterion referenced…

Specific procedures for assessing a handicapped student's mastery level within a continuum of mathematics skills are described, and analysis of error patterns discussed. (CL)