School-Aged Ells Assessment

Ms. Foster teaches a self-contained classroom of ninth to twelfth graders. Her students have mild to moderate cognitive disabilities and one student is considered autistic although at a high functioning level. Ms. Foster’s students move to other settings throughout the day, but they receive reading and writing instruction from her. She has one child who is considered ESOL but he has been in the US since he was small and does not appear to have problems with English.

The assessor needs to gather information that is personal from the learner in order to adapt and provide special needs that they might have. Also the assessor will need to treat all learners equally, ensuring that equality and diversity issue are met. Once this information has been gained, the assessor can then produce an action plan for the learner which is both realistic and achievable so they are comfortable to achieve the best possible results.

Trying to accommodate different students learning styles in an English learning classroom can be overwhelming. Having good teaching strategies can help English learning students learn more effectively. Using the best strategies will ensure all students in the classroom have an effective learning environment. There are many instructional strategies that teachers can use in the classroom.

A child will be assessed by an educational psychologist if there are concerns about their intellectual, communication and behavioural development. Assessments can be arranged by the SENCO or independently. The aim of the assessments is to find out why the child is not progressing and what support is needed in order for them to progress. Specific learning difficulties are often identified in this way such as Dyslexia, AHAD, Dyspraxia. Support and targets for the child are then set to help them achieve. The outcome of the assessments may involve the child referred to other professionals e.g. occupational therapist, optometrist, speech and language therapist, psychiatrist. The psychologist will advise the school on how to promote development for example, keeping verbal instructions simple. Keep stories and group activities short to match attention span.

The two options for identifying students with disabilities are RTI model and the IQ-Achievement discrepancy model. The RTI model is a multi-tiered approach to identifying students with disabilities. With this approach the amount of students who are identified as having a learning disability has decreased because of the support students receive at different tiers and it eliminates inadequate instruction as the reason for reading problems. Universal screening and high quality teaching is done for all students. Students who show that they need additional help receive tier 1 services where frequency and intensity increases. Students are monitored and receive research based instruction in the general education classroom. Some students may still struggle and have to receive more intensive and frequent service. Those students will receive supplemental support from an educational professional. Tier 3 services are provided to students who still struggle and need even more intensive service. Students may also qualify for special education services. The IQ-Achievement discrepancy model is used to determine if a disability is present. Standardized tests are used to eliminate low intellectual ablity as a determining cause for reading problems. With this model, a professional assess whether there is a discrepancy between a student’s scores on an iq test and scores obtained from areas

There are many factors that influence the diverse needs of an individual EAL learner that need to be assessed and taken into account when providing adequate classroom support:

When I first came to the United State and enrolled in elementary school in Los Angeles in second grade, I did not know a single English word except “no English.” I have to adjust to a whole new environment, culturally, educationally, and geographically. My grandma and grandpa from my dad's side live in the United State for about fifteen years. So, we live with them to understand the new experience. My mom work at a nail salon with my aunt so that she could learn the technique and concept of the job to get a license in manicure. My dad does not work because he stays home to take care of me and my siblings. Because I came late in school, I did not able to learn English so I was put in an ELD program in elementary school. Under the ELD program,

Assessment is a valuable tool to measure students learning and achievement. It is an essential element for teacher to reflect on what and how they teach. To assess students is to collect evidence of their learning. Teachers use the information to modify their lesson plans and adjust their instructional methods; students need feedback on their performance to concentrate on their vulnerable areas. Assessment is necessary for parents to reinforce their children strength and assist them where extra attention is required. The data collected will inform school

The Special Education team for learning disabilities will test the student. These students have shown signs of continuous problems with interventions in place. Psychologist, psychiatrist, and any other testing will be conducted with parental consent have evaluated the student. Parents will be mandated to attend all assessment evaluations and the team shall review the findings for referral back to tier two or upgrade student to tier four for special educational services based on educational or problematic behaviors.

The special educational needs (SEN) team are supported by a very active group who make sure that they provide a range of activities to meet the needs of our ever growing community of special schools, as well as colleagues in mainstream primary and secondary schools. Their aim is to work together to ensure good practice to promote effective approaches to enhance the students learning with Special educational needs.

In pursuing my ELL endorsement, I found it to be very beneficial to interview current ELL teachers. They shared their insight and expertise in this field. I interviewed the middle school ELL teacher at my school, an upper-elementary ELL teacher and early-elementary teacher in my district. I asked twelve questions that pertained to their experience teaching ELL. These responses are valuable to future ELL teachers and general education teachers who teach ELL in their classrooms.

Analyzed below are the two journal articles about special education assessments entitled, Predictors of Assessment Accommodations Use for Students Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing from the Journal of Educational Research & Policy Studies (Cawthon & WurtzBest, 2010) and A Methodology for Assessing the Functions of Emerging Speech in Children with Developmental Disabilities from the Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis (Parten, et al, 2005). The analysis revolves around the following areas: nature of research, summary, critique, personnel, future practice, and future research.

The authors highlight that federal law clearly staes mandates aimed at safeguarding the rights of students with special needs. This includes linguistically and culturally diverse students, who have historically been disproportionately represented in special education. However, the authors suggest a lack of clear practices, procedures and policies for early intervention, referral, assessment, and eligibility determinations involving ELLs at the school district level. They document that best practices for assessing and identifying ELLs that have been present in the literature for a number of years (e.g., conducting prereferral interventions, using caution in interpreting results of norm-referenced instruments, avoiding translated instruments)

The school special services rating scale – LD checklist was the rating scale used to gather information on students to find out if they match the criteria for students who might have learning disabilities and as a result will need intervention to correct same. The rating scale has eight domains which are gross and fine motor skills, oral expressive language, reading, written language, mathematics, social/emotional, attention and finally other. These different domains have different behaviours under them and maximum scores that are allotted. The degree or severity with which the behaviours range from a low of “not observed” to a high of “observed to a severe degree”. Scores are also attached to the different levels of severity from a low

Special Education is a topic of controversy with many advocates fighting for the justice children and adults with special needs so rightfully deserve. With laws being passed and modified so frequently, it is important that the educators being brought into the world have an extensive knowledge of the developmental needs of many different types of children. With this knowledge and their constant measures to keep up to date with the fast-moving world of education, they will be able to deliver an appropriate atmosphere that is in accordance with the law that ensures ethical practices and guidelines are always being followed.