Page 80 - Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting in Ontario Schools. First Edition, Covering Grades 1 to 12. 2010

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GROWING SUCCESS | assessment, evaluation, and reporting in Ontario schools
STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL EDUCATION NEEDS
Teachers and principals need to make every effort to enable students with special education needs to participate with their peers in all aspects of a provincial large-scale assessment and demonstrate the full extent of their learning. In rare cases, an exemption from a specific portion of the assessment or from the entire assessment may be considered by the principal if, even given the full range of permitted accommodations, the student would not be able to provide evidence of learning under the circumstances of the assessment. The decision about any exemption must always be made on an individual basis. Reference should be made to the annual EQAO instructions regarding the exemption policy.
The IEP indicates when an exemption is planned for part or all of a particular provincial large-scale assessment, and includes an explanatory statement that outlines the reasons for the decision, quoting the relevant EQAO exemption criteria.
Assessments by Other Professionals
Assessment information from various sources may need to be considered to facilitate the development of appropriate educational programs for students with special education needs. Assessment data and results that have been gathered about a diverse range of skills by a variety of professionals can provide comprehensive information to guide the development of the student’s IEP and assist in the determination of educationally relevant goals, objectives, and implementation strategies that are based on the unique learning profile of the individual student.
Possible types of assessments include medical/health assessments (vision, hearing, physical, and neurological); speech/language assessments; occupational therapy/physiotherapy assessments; and behavioural, psychological, and psychiatric assessments.
Ongoing Assessment and Program Adjustment
Information gathered from ongoing assessment may indicate that the IEP needs to be adjusted by the teacher, in consultation with the in-school team and/or the special education teacher, the student, and the student’s parents, in one or more of the following ways:
• developing new learning expectations or revising annual program goals, if learning is proceeding at a faster rate than anticipated in the plan;
• breaking learning expectations into smaller steps or adjusting annual program goals, if learning is proceeding at a slower rate than anticipated in the plan;
• altering the teaching and assessment strategies used and/or the type of individualized equipment or level of human support provided.