Presents a framework for literacy assessment that can be adapted to suit the assessment needs of particular schools and districts. Describes a process of decision making about authentic literacy assessments that schools should emulate to achieve consensus about literacy outcomes and processes. Discusses the Kamehameha Elementary Education Program.…

Argues for a change from the artificial and irrelevant evaluation activities found in so many special education programs. Provides examples of school districts in the United States that are developing new ways of assessing, ways that are less artificial and more appropriate to children's modes of thinking and learning. (RS)

The Special Education Department of the Omaha Public Schools implemented assessment classes for students identified as learning disabled. The classes offer the opportunity for in-depth evaluation of behavior in a variety of situations and with many different techniques and materials. Four critical elements of LD assessment classes include: the…

The Chidley Educational Center, Perth, Western Australia, provides a short term residential environment for 40 children (6-13 years old) with learning disabilities. The children served by the center are admitted because they have limited access, for geographic reasons, to other specialist help. The center's approach is based on the diagnostic…

An instructional and mainstreaming model for programming severely learning disabled (LD) elementary students is described, in which students receive instruction for one half of the school day in an LD classroom and are successfully mainstreamed in general education for the remaining part of the day is described. It is explained that components of…

Presented are procedures and forms used by West Penscola Elementary School to integrate hearing impaired students into regular classrooms. Described briefly are program components such as the use of social and academic mainstreaming as well as cross integration (bringing hearing students into classes for the hearing impaired). Twelve steps in the…

The paper contains proceedings of a panel on the declassification/transition program in a Champaign, Illinois, elementary school designed to remedy the situation of overclassification of Black children as educable mentally handicapped (EMH). Session leader, J. First, introduces the problem of the classification of excessively large numbers of…

The report describes the development and implementation of a Prince Georges County (Maryland) special education training institute designed to increase elementary school regular classroom teachers' knowledge and skills relating to teaching mildly handicapped children. The training institute was organized into four modules: identification of…

A program adapting precision teaching in an urban elementary school is described. This program, initiated by the Teacher Corps, was used as an inservice project operating in the classroom. Four major procedural steps are described: (1) the teacher must describe an educational objective in exact terms; (2) pupil performance must be recorded daily…

The Cincinnati Public Schools' German-English Bilingual Alternative School program is discussed. The program was established in 1974 for some 200 monolingual first and second graders, and expands vertically each year to the next grade level. Tests of reading and arithmetic skills show achievement equal to or greater than regular students. (CHK)

This report summarizes the activities, outcomes, and recommendations of a small Commonwealth Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA)-funded teacher professional development project "Teachers First." Noting that the project delivered a program of professional development informed by the recommendations of the DETYA…

Dissatisfied with the mismatch between letter grades and their new (state-mandated) curricular emphases, the Tucson (Arizona) Public Schools began experimenting with rubric descriptions of student progress. The prototype progress report assesses students in two general categories: learner qualities and content areas. Frequent communication with…

Describes the ways key issues in whole-language implementation were handled in Tennessee's pilot program. Offers a framework for encouraging teachers to look closely at the advantages of whole language without squeezing them between a rock and a hard place. (RS)

The best reporting procedure for any school or school district can be determined only after careful study of the needs and philosophy of the educational program. Whatever the choice of evaluation process, it should be focused on the individual rather than on a group, be skill- or criterion-based, be adaptable on a multi-grade-level range, be…

Describes a long-term project in which elementary school teachers made fundamental changes in their reading/writing program, and came to a better understanding of their students' development as readers and writers by listening to children. Notes that children helped those with learning difficulties participate in the regular class upon elimination…