Educational Assessment

Educational assessment is a very important process for students with intellectual disabilities. Assessment is used to determine student placement, to create an appropriate curriculum for the student, and to monitor student progress during the academic year. Much of the educational assessment process is mandated by legislation. In this chapter we focused on the informal or functional assessment process that is used to determine a functional and age-appropriate curriculum for a student. Several key features of informal assessment were highlighted. For example, it is important to involve parents and the student in an active and meaningful way in the planning process. A person-centered planning model of curriculum development is particularly helpful in this respect. Strategies for assessing student preference and choice should also be used in the curriculum development and ongoing assessment process. Educational goals stemming from the person-centered planning process should then be translated into observable skills and prioritized for instruction using an ecological assessment process. Finally, the skills identified during the ecological assessment should be measured on an ongoing basis during the academic year to assess student progress and make changes in the educational goals as needed.