Page 77 - Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting in Ontario Schools. First Edition, Covering Grades 1 to 12. 2010

CHAPTER 7 | students with special education needs: modifications, accommodations, and alternative programs
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STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL EDUCATION NEEDS
CONTEXT
The primary purpose of assessment and evaluation for students with special education needs, as for all students, is to improve student learning. To achieve this goal for students with special education needs – that is, to provide the most effective programming possible to support student achievement – it is especially important to review and ensure the ongoing effectiveness of instructional strategies. Assessment for students with special education needs should be an ongoing and continuous process that is an integral part of the daily teaching and learning process.
Teachers working with students who have special education needs use assessment and evaluation strategies to:
• specify and verify the student’s needs;
• support accurate decisions about the student’s program;
• support a range of other decisions, such as those relating to referrals, screening, classification, instructional planning, and determining next steps;
• help determine particular interventions that may be necessary to enable the student to demonstrate achievement.
In planning a program for a student with special education needs, the teacher, with the support of an in-school team and/or a special education teacher, begins by considering the student’s strengths and needs and his or her instructional level. A student’s instructional level is usually determined on the basis of educational assessments conducted by teachers, taking into account other professional assessment data, when such data are available and when it is appropriate to do so. Teachers use a variety of educational assessment strategies and tools, which may include (but are not limited to) direct observation, portfolios, journals, rubrics, tests, projects, and self- and peer assessment. Data from assessments, along with information from parents and others who have worked with the student, provide a detailed picture of the student’s learning needs. In the light of this information, the teacher considers the curriculum expectations that are appropriate for the student’s instructional level and, in consultation with the in-school team and/or the special education teacher, determines whether the student requires:
• no accommodations or modifications;
• accommodations and/or modified learning expectations; or
• an alternative program, not derived from the curriculum expectations for a subject/grade or a course.
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