Chapter 11: Evaluating Student Learning
Chapter-At-A-Glance
Instructor’s Overview and Outline
Of all the areas where accommodations are made for students with special needs, the area of evaluation is perhaps
the most challenging for many teachers. With respect to more traditional forms of evaluation such as testing and
grading, concerns include ensuring that results reflect the students’ knowledge and skills, not their disability.
Designing testing accommodations without compromising standards is also addressed in this chapter. The use of
portfolios and performance-based assessments is examined. Throughout the chapter, students are introduced to
guidelines for adapting traditional testing and grading practices, as well as performance-based assessments and
portfolios.
A. How can accommodations be made for students with special needs when giving classroom tests?
1. Accommodations before the test
Learning Objectives
Instructor’s Resources
Web Resources
Making testing
accommodations for
students with special
needs
o Separate grades
Activity # 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10
o Portfolio assessment
o Authentic learning tasks
Activities #2, 3, 6, 7, 9
Key Terms & Concepts
o Alternative forms of questions, test
sites, administering tests
o Alternatives to letter and number grades
o Study guides and practice tests
o Individual tutoring
o Test-taking skills
o Chunking and mnemoics
o Competency checklists
o Grading criteria
o Keyword method
o Rehearsal strategy
Activities # 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10
o Accommodations:
http://www.ncld.org/at-
school/general-
topics/accommodations
B. How can accommodations in report-card grading be made for students with special needs?
2. Using individualized grading with students with disabilities
3. Legalities of individualized grading
C. How can performance-based assessment benefit students with special needs?
D. How can portfolio assessment benefit students with special needs?
E. Wrapping it up
Learning Objectives
1. Identify and describe accommodations that can be made before, during, and after testing students
with special needs.
2. Describe grading practices that can benefit all of your students.
Key Terms and Concepts
Alternative forms of questions
Alternative test site
Alternative ways of administering tests
Alternatives to letter and number grades
Authentic learning tasks
Changing letter or number grades
Chunking
Competency checklists
Daily activity logs
Activities and Discussion Questions
1. To give your students practice in constructing test items adapted for students with special needs,
distribute Handout 11-1, which is comprised of a series of test items that are not constructed
according to the guidelines covered in the text. As either homework or a small-group in-class
activity, have students state what is wrong with the items and then rewrite them so they are more
appropriate for students with special needs. Remind students to refer to the Professional Edge 11.2:
Modifications in Test Construction for Students with Disabilities for test construction
recommendations.
Key (other answers are possible)
1A: Use of “filler” choices confusing
4A: Small blank
Circling more appropriate response
requirement
Student must write answer
2. Portfolios are a form of evaluation often used with students with special needs. Review the various
special education decisions covered in Chapter 8 (screening, diagnosis, curriculum placement,
program placement, instructional evaluation, and program evaluation). Have students describe one
3. Ask students to prepare an entry for their professional portfolio from the activities they’ve completed
4. Have students work in groups to redesign a rubric to address an individual student’s needs. They may
5. Have students construct a grading rubric for a performance, project, or product that children would
create as part of a lesson plan they’ve written (or a plan they’ve located on the Internet). Share
examples of programs that generate rubrics at Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators Assessment and
1B: No directions
4B: No directions
2A: Too many choices
5A: Key words not highlighted
3B: No directions
No answer outline
6. Have students identify a learning goal (from your state’s curriculum, for example). Then, ask them to
work in small groups to brainstorm multiple ways their students might demonstrate their knowledge
7. Guest Speaker: Invite teachers (special education and general education) to discuss ways they
9. If your state uses a portfolio assessment as an alternative to state-wide testing, ask students to
examine the portfolio requirements and process. How might they be involved in the process as a
general education teacher? How are the children (students) involved in the process?
10. Ask students to examine your states’ high stakes testing accommodations process and to locate this
information on the IEP. What types of accommodations are available? What criteria do students have
to meet to be eligible for the accommodations?
Web Links
Instructor Resources
Web Based Content Resources
• Council of Chief State School Officers. Find out about testing and grading policies being used around
Additional Readings
Andrade, H. L., Du, Y., & Mycek, K. (2010). Rubric-referenced self-assessment and middle school
students writing. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy and Practice. 17, 199–214.
Feldman, E., Kim, J., & Elliott, S.N. (2011). The effects of accommodations on adolescents’ self-efficacy
and test performance. Journal of Special Education, 45(2), 77-88.
Holzberg, C. S. (2005). Designing rubrics. Technology & Learning, 26(3), 36–38.
Johnson, E. & Arnold, N. (2004). Validating and alternate assessment. Remedial and Special Educations,
25(5), 266-275.
Katayama, A. D., Robinson, D. H., Dubois, N. F., & Devaney, T. (1997, March). The interaction of
study materials and review occasion on transfer and relational learning. Paper presented at the
annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.