Educational Assessment

Siobhain Broekhoven
Special Education Part 2
CTE Queens University
Instructor: Barb Dixon

This is for a ctitious grade 7 student, Kaylee, without an exceptionality (she is not formally
identied).

This Educational assessment is in response to a student who identies as being ADHD, because
her parents keep telling her she is ADHD, but this is not indicated on her IEP. She certainly
seems hyper in class at times, and has problems paying aJention. She is bright, very articulate, a
great story teller, and knows the answers when they are asked orally. Her wriJen test results
dont reect this ability. According to her OSR, she normally gets average marks, but she has
failed the rst English test of the year, her answers dont correspond to the questions asked. Her
hand writing varies and is often hard to read and has many spelling errors.

The educational assessment I have chosen to use is the CASI (Comprehension AJitude
Strategies Interests) test. Since it is the beginning of the year, this reading test will be
administered to the entire class as a diagnostic test to nd student strengths and learning needs.
It will be used to inform planning and instruction for individual students like Kaylee, but also
for small group work, and the entire class 1. For universal design in the classroom and in
formative assessments, I would not want to single out a particular student for testing, but rather
include all students to think about where they are at in their learning career. Who knows, I may
discover something that I had not expected with another student.

The Reading AJitude Survey, Reading Interests Inventory, and Reading Passages and
Questions, I would do as a class, while Reading Interviews would be individually one on one
for every student, during a regular reading period.

Kaylees reading comprehension was measured by the Achievement Chart Categories

(Knowledge and Understanding, Communication, Thinking and Application). According to the
CASI Reading Rubric, Kaylee scored 2 out of a possible 4 for reading comprehension during
testing.

Some programming implications that I would include on Kaylees IEP are listing her Strengths
and Needs. One of her strengths is Expressive Language Skills (speaking). (I know this from
observing her in class). Two of her weaknesses are Expressive Language Skills (writing) and
Receptive Language Skills (reading). The former is known from the Educational Assessment of
her English Test, and the laJer from the CASI testing.

1 CASI Overview hJps://ontarioteachers.les.wordpress.com/2014/09/casi_overview.pdf

I would include Instructional Accommodations of Read all wriJen instructions , access to a
computer as required and check for understanding of directions and instructions. Also I
would include Assessment Accommodations of Read all wriJen instructions to student and
additional time.

While working with Kaylee I wondered if her aJention problems and hyper mood were not due
to the ADHD her parents suspected2, but to dyslexia, a very common learning disability3 .

I would follow up by having a meeting with the in-school team (which includes the principal
and SERT). I would suggest further assessments for Kaylee to test for dyslexia. Because there
are signicant wait times for a clinical diagnosis and/or to administer psycho educational
assessments4, I would proactively print reading materials for the class in a dyslexic font like
OpenDyslexic to see if the weighted characters in the type face make reading easier for Kaylee
(and others) as the leJers are anchored and do not jump around as much for some dyslexic
readers. The font has not been the subject of direct research5, but it is open source (free!) and
developed by readers who are dyslexic for their own use. I would also change the default font
on Kaylees computer to Open Dyslexic to see if it improves her comprehension, and the length
of time she is able to concentrate on reading.

2 hJps://dyslexiaida.org/aJention-decithyperactivity-disorder-adhd-and-dyslexia/

3 International Dyslexia Association, denition of Dyslexia hJps://dyslexiaida.org/denition-of-dyslexia/

4 hJp://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/news/parents-fuming-after-2-5-year-wait-for-learning-
disability-test-1.2918462

5 hJp://opendyslexic.org/about-2/related-research/