Academic Assessment Overview: Legal and Ethical Considerations

1. Legal
a. IDEIA 2004: Key concepts
i. FAPE: Free and appropriate educationBrown v. Brown, 1954
ii. LRE: Least Restrictive Environment
i. Continuum
ii. With peers as much as possible
iii. IEP: Individualized educational plan
i. Based on assessment of student needs
ii. Includes long and short term goals, services to be provided,
plans for initiating and evaluating the services, written
statement of transition services
iii. Modifications
iv. How to address mandated testing
iv. Aligned with Elementary and Secondary Education Act Revised-No Child Left Behind (NCLB); particularly with teacher
qualifications
v. Intended to reduce paperwork
2. Disability categories
a. Multiple disabilities
i. What: more than one disability
ii. Who assesses: persons needed for each disability
b. Intellectual Disability formally Mental retardation
i. What: cognitive impairment, limited adaptive behavior, need for
support, occurrence before age 18
ii. Who assesses: team & psychologist
c. Visual impairment including blindness
i. What: Low vision is uses sight to learn; visual disabilities interfere
with daily functioning. Blindness means no functional use of sight
ii. Who assesses: physician, mobility expert, team
d. Speech or language
i. What: Speechabnormal speech that is unintelligible, and/or
interferes with communication; Languagedifficulty or inability
mastering the systems of language
ii. Who assesses: Speech pathologist, team
e. Deaf
i. What: inability to receive sounds with or without aide; inability to
use hearing to gain information
ii. Who assesses: audiologist (or physician), speech pathologist, team
f. Hearing impairment
i. What: having enough hearing to comprehend speech and
communication:
ii. Who assesses: audiologist (or physician), speech pathologist, team

g. Traumatic brain injury

i. What: result of head injuryreduced cognitive functioning,
limited attention, impulsivity
ii. Who assesses: physician, team
h. Autism:
i. What: problems in communication, social interaction, and unusual
behaviors
ii. Who assesses: psychologist, speech pathologist, team
i. Specific learning disability
i. What: significant discrepancy between cognitive ability and
academic achievement
ii. Who assesses: psychologist, team
j. Serious emotional disorder
i. What: disruptive or inappropriate behaviors that interfere with
learning, socializing, or personal satisfaction that requires
intervention
ii. Who assesses: psychologist, team
k. Other health impairment
i. What: chronic or acute health problems that limit strength, vitality,
alertness affecting learning, includes ADHD
ii. Who assesses: physician, psychologist, team
l. Orthopedic impairment
i. What: physical deformity or abnormality of skeletal system and
motor functioning that impacts learning
ii. Who assesses: Physician, team
m. Deaf blind
i. What: dual disability with both vision and hearing
ii. Who assesses: physician, mobility, team
3. Protection in Evaluation procedures (PEP)
a. Must be racially and culturally nondiscriminatory
b. Assessed in native language or primary mode of communication
c. Tests must be validated for purposes used
d. Personnel must be trained
e. Assessment must include information about specific educational needs
f. Placement and program decisions must be based on more than one
measure
g. Multidisciplinary team is required, at least one MUST have special
knowledge of the disability
h. Student must be assessed in all areas related to the disability, including
health, vision, social and emotional status, general intelligence, academic
performance, communication skills, and motor skills
4. FERPA: Key concepts
a. Confidentiality
b. Access to records
c. Educational need to know
5. Ethical

a. General principles
i. Competence
ii. Integrity
iii. Professional and scientific responsibility
iv. Respect for peoples rights and dignity
v. Concern for others welfare
vi. Social responsibility
6. Ethical standards
i. General
ii. Evaluation, assessment, intervention*
i. Done in professional context
ii. Appropriate use of assessment & interventions (competence)
iii. Test construction: scientific & researched
iv. Must know reliability, validity, and research on tests as well as
correct procedures; limitations are recognized; when norms or
techniques are not applicable
v. Interpretation includes consideration of factors that might affect
judgment or interpretation
vi. Not promote unqualified persons
vii. Do not use outdated or obsolete tests
Offer other professionals clear purpose, norms, validity, reliability, and
application; scoring services must be valid; psychologists are responsible
for application, interpretation, and use of assessment tools
viii.
Results must be explained
ix. Tests must be secure; retain integrity
7. CEC Standards
a. Special education professionals are committed to developing the highest
educational and quality of life potential of individuals with
exceptionalities.
b. Special education professionals promote and maintain a high level of
competence and integrity in practicing their profession.
c. Special education professionals engage in professional activities which
benefit individuals with exceptionalities, their families, other colleagues,
students, or research subjects.
d. Special education professionals exercise objective professional judgment
in the practice of their profession.
e. Special education professionals strive to advance their knowledge and
skills regarding the education of individuals with exceptionalities.
f. Special education professionals work within the standards and policies of
their profession.
g. Special education professionals seek to uphold and improve where
necessary the laws, regulations, and policies governing the delivery of
special education and related services and the practice of their profession.
h. Special education professionals do not condone or participate in unethical
or illegal acts, nor violate professional standards adopted by the Delegate
Assembly of CEC.

8. Privacy and confidentiality*

a. Limits of confidentiality
b. Maintain confidentiality
c. Minimize intrusion
d. Maintain records in accordance of law (FERPA & State)
e. Disclosure only as mandated by law
f. Consultation possible as long as information limited
g. Databases must be coded; subject to consent
h. Not shared in lectures etc.
i. Records protected in case of death or incapacity
j. Ownership of records follows law
k. Cannot withhold records because of nonpayment
9. Issues with assessment
a. Minimum competency testing (must pass state test to go to next grade or
graduate): Debra P. v. Turlingtonstates can require competency testing
with adequate notice, curricular validity, and documentation of acceptable
instructional validity
b. Performance based assessmentdemonstration of skills, higher order
thinking: must be valid, fair, and useful
c. Screening testssignificant problems with reliability and validity; must
have multiple sources of information
10. Federal Mandates
A. NCLB regular education
B. IDEIA to prove PROGRAM is working
11. State Mandates; note at this time State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness -STAAR
A. General Assessment:
a. STAAR
b. Spanish STAAR (Grades 3-5 only)
c. STAAR L for ELL (grades 3 8)
c. STAAR can have accommodations (at or with one year of grade level)
1. if on IEP
2. If on Section 504
3. if other need identified, usually at RTI team campus level
d. types of accommodation Note: All questions including trial question are
on all accommodated tests
1. Type 1
a. individual or small group
b. reminder to stay on task
c. amplification devices
d. projection devices
2. Type 2

a. manipulating test materials

b. oral/signed administration
c. spelling assistance
d. math manipulatives
e. calculation devices
f. basic transcription
g. supplemental aids
f. extra time
g. large print
h. dictionary
i. braille
3. Type 3
a. complex transcription
b. math scribe
c. photocopy
d. extra day
e. other
B. Alternate Assessments
a. STAAR Modified (limited to 2% of population)
1. disability that significant affects academic progress
2. cannot achieve grade level proficiency within one year
3. Can include accommodations AND
4. modifications in test design
a. fewer choices
b. simpler vocabulary
c. simpler sentence structure etc.
5. Meets 4 additional criteria
a. needs extensive modifications or accommodations to
classroom instruction, assignments, and assessment to
access and demonstrate progress in grade level TEKS
b. IEP committee is reasonably certain student will not
achieve grade level proficiency demonstrated by
MULTIPLE VALID measures of evidence
c. meets some but not all STAARS-ALT criteria
d. requires an alternate form of STAAR more closely
aligned with instructional modifications in order to
demonstrate knowledge of grade level TEKS
b. STAAR Alternate (1%)
1. Grades 3-11 students who have significant cognitive disabilities
and are receiving special services
2. Unable to participate in other statewide assessments even with
substantial accommodations or modifications
3. Five additional criteria

a. requires supports to access general curriculum including

assistance in communication, response style, physical
access, or DLS
b. Requires direct, intensive, individualized instruction in a
variety of settings to accomplish acquisition, maintenance,
and generalization of skills
c. accesses and participates in grade level TEKS through
activities that focus on prerequisite skills
d. demonstrates performance objectives that may include
real life application of the grade level TEKS as appropriate
to the students abilities and needs
e. demonstrates knowledge and skills routinely in class by
methods other than paper pencil tasks.
4. STAAR Alternate changes:
a. teachers must be fully qualified by state in STAAR
training
b. transition tasks are defined as relating to HOW the
skill will be used in the community once the student leaves
schools
c. all actions in a skill set must be performed by the student
d. Level of student performance MUST be designated at a
complexity level; level one must be at level one for full
task
1. level one: least complex, cannot generalize;
verbs: acknowledge; participate; respond;
experience
2. level two: moderately complex, may be able to
generalize and assist others; verbs: assist, identify,
match, examine
3. level three: complex, can generalize and teach
others: verbs: determine, generate, compare, justify