Evidence-Based Assessment for Teaching Learners with Special Needs

Catalog description

Overview of special education assessment law, the assessment process, monitoring academic progress, classroom behavior, and assessing learners with severe disabilities. SPLED 803 Evidence-Based Assessment for Teaching Learne4rs with Special Needs (3) This course provides an overview of special education law and methods to assess learners with special education needs in the general education setting. Roughly 15% of the course provides knowledge related to historical and legal foundations of special education that relates to general education teachers and settings. The remaining content focuses on assessing learners with both mild and more severe disabilities in general education settings. Specifically, students will learn how children are identified with special needs and found eligible for special education services. Students will learn about the value and importance of collecting and using data to make informed instructional decisions. Different assessment procedures will also be covered including norm-referenced tests and progress monitoring through the use of curriculum-based measures. Students will learn to create and implement assessments across a variety of content areas such as reading, writing, mathematics, and vocabulary (in social studies or science classes). An important part of data collection procedures is the ability to graph data and subsequently make decisions based on this data; thus, a portion of the course will focus on these skills. Students will also learn how to monitor classroom behavior. Finally, there will be a focus on assessing learners with more severe disabilities. Functional behavior assessments as well as accommodating learners with severe needs will be discussed.