Educational and Other Assessments

 

Purpose of the Standard

To provide details of the board's assessment policies and procedures to the ministry and to make parents aware of the types of assessment tools used by the school board, the way in which assessments are obtained by the IPRCs, and the ways in which assessments are used.

Requirement of the Standard

For each type of assessment tool described the school board's special education plan must include the following information:

The qualifications of categories of staff who conduct the assessment and/or provide diagnoses; that is, staff who are governed by the Education Act; the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1993;

The Health Care Consent Act, 1996; or other legislation, as appropriate (the board must specify which legislation applies)

Average waiting times for assessment to be conducted and the criteria for managing waiting lists if they exist

An acknowledgment that requirements for obtaining parental consent are met prior to conducting the assessment

An explanation of how results of an assessment are communicated to parents

A description of protocols for sharing information with staff and outside agencies

An explanation of how the privacy of information is protected

 

EDUCATIONAL AND OTHER ASSESSMENTS

1) EDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENTS:

i) Assessments may involve various educational assessment tools including:

• The Brigance Comprehensive Inventory of Basic Skills
• Key Math Revised
• Burns and Roe Informal Reading Test
• Informal teacher-made assessment tools
• Wide Range Achievement Test - Revision 3.

ii) Qualifications of Staff:

Teachers with Special Education qualifications operating under the Education Act.

iii) Average waiting time:

Most educational assessments are conducted fairly quickly (within two weeks) of recommendation by the School Based Resource Team.

iv) Management of Wait List:

Generally there is no wait list management required. This is not a concern. If for a particular reason there was to be an extensive wait list - the school principal could make a request for additional assistance in terms of resources which would allow the Program Resource Teacher to conduct assessments.

v) Parental Consent:

Educational assessments on students are usually conducted after discussion of the child's difficulty with the parent/guardian. Typically the parent agrees that this assessment will assist in delineating areas of specific difficulty. No formal signed consent is usually obtained. The school relies upon the parent's verbal agreement with this course of action.

vi) Informing Parents of Results:

Once the assessment is completed the results are shared with the parents in either a private interview or at a School Based Resource Team Meeting. Typically recommendations and a course of action are developed collaboratively with parents at this meeting as well.

vii) Sharing Information with Staff and Outside Agencies/ Privacy of Information:

Results of educational assessments are shared with those staff members who have direct involvement with the student in question, whether that be as direct instruction or as a member of the School Based Resource Team. Results of educational assessments are recorded on the Individual Educational Plan for the student. No information is provided to outside agencies or persons unless Release of Information Forms is signed and dated by the parent. All testing information is kept on file at the school by the Program Resource Teacher in a secure location. Summary information pertaining to the entire IPRC process is kept on file in the documentation folder of the student’s OSR, with the appropriate safegaurds and controls in term of appropriateness of information and control in terms as access to be compliant with guidelines governing OSR.

2) COGNITIVE/PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENTS:

i) Assessment usually include:

• Intellectual assessment using a variety of instruments (WISC-III, WAIS-R, WPSSI-R)
• Visual-motor assessments (Beery Test of Visual Motor Integration)
• Perceptual skills (Test of Visual Perceptual Skills-non-motor)
• Memory (Visual Auditory Digit Span Test)

ii) Qualifications of Staff:

Assessments have been contracted to a service provider who is provides supervised assessments conducted by a psychometrist supervised by a registered psychologist. In keeping with the Regulated Health Professions Act, no diagnosis is made or provided except by a Registered Psychologist.

iii) Average waiting time:

Depending on the time of year, some referrals are handled within one month while some take two to three months to be completed. Generally referrals for assessment are handled on a first come, first served basis unless there are unusual circumstances requiring a more immediate response (e.g. placement in a specialized setting, community case conference).

iv) Managing waiting lists:

Each school is asked to prioritize students who have been recommended for assessment purposes. Assessments are primarily being requested as a means of gaining further insights into the student’s strengths, needs and abilities.

As a results the assessment process requires that a comprehensive educational assessment is completed as a pre-requisite to Psycho-Educational Assessments. Services for psycho-educational assessments are contracted out. The individual schools are allotted a percentage of the assessments based on school demographics. There is a monthly monitoring of :

• the number of assessments that are being conducted
• the wait times,
• the adequacy of the number of assessments allotted per schools

Adjustments are made if there is a need to purchase additional assessments. There are a few assessments that are budgeted and utilized in unusual circumstances that require immediate responses.

v) Parental Consent:

Written parental consent is always obtained prior to a child undergoing an assessment. As well, parents are asked to complete a questionnaire outlining important background information and areas of primary concern.

v) Sharing Information with Staff and Outside Agencies/Privacy of Information:

School administration, the classroom teacher and special education staff attend the feedback meeting with parents. Parents receive a final report for their records. No reports are provided to outside agencies or persons without the written consent of the parent. Parents will often provide the agency or persons with a copy of their own report or if requested and with written permission, the school will provide a copy to the requesting agency or person.

A copy of the final report is provided to the school with one being provided for storage in the documentation folder of the child’s OSR. Access to information in the OSR is controlled by the school in accordance with the OSR guidelines.

3) SPEECH AND LANGUAGE ASSESSMENTS:

i) Assessments involve a variety of assessment tools including the following:

• The Word Test
• Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test - Revised
• The One Word Expressive Language Test
• The Token Test
• Clinical Evaluation of Language Functions - 3 and P
• Test of Auditory Comprehension of Language - 3
• Phonological Awareness Test
• Goldman-Fristoe Articulation Test

ii) Qualifications of Staff:

The Speech Language Pathologists have either a Bachelor or Masters degrees and are registered with the College of Audiologists and Speech Language Pathologists of Ontario (CASLPO).

iii) Average waiting time:

Depending on the block of schools being serviced and at what time of the year the referral is submitted, it will be between one and eight months before a child will receive an assessment. The average time would be about three months.

iv) Managing waiting lists:

Caseloads are monitored monthly for the number of assessments requested, the number of assessments completed, the number of consultations and the number of interventions provided by each of the Speech Language Pathologists. Generally referrals for assessment are handled on a first come, first served basis unless there are unusual circumstances requiring a more immediate response (e.g. placement in a specialized setting, community case conference).

v) Informing Parents of Results

Parents are invited to a meeting at the school where the results are explained and recommendations provided. Home programming materials and suggests may be provided. The parents receive a copy of the final report.

vi) Sharing Information with Staff and Outside Agencies/Privacy of Information:

School Administration, the classroom teacher and special education staff attend the feedback meeting with the parents. No reports are provided to outside agencies or individuals with the written consent of the parent. Parents will often provide the agency or individual with a copy of their report, or, if requested and with written parental permission, the school will provide a copy to the requesting agency. All testing information is accessible only to the professional who conducted the assessment with access being secured and controlled. A copy of the final report is provided to the school for storage in the documentation section of the student OSR. Storage and access to the OSR at the school is in accordance with the OSR guidelines.