Assessment and Program Planning
Assessment and Program Planning
This domain covers evaluation, eligibility, IEP development, progress monitoring, and transition planning. Questions ask you to choose technically adequate assessments, write measurable goals, and use data to adjust instruction.
Evaluation rules
- A full and individual evaluation uses multiple measures and technically sound instruments; it cannot rest on a single test.
- Assessments are selected and administered to avoid cultural, linguistic, or racial bias, in the child's native language or mode of communication, and validated for the intended purpose.
- Informed parental consent precedes evaluation; eligibility is decided by a team, not one professional.
IEP essentials
Present levels of academic achievement and functional performance (PLAAFP), measurable annual goals, how progress is measured and reported, special education and related services, supplementary aids, participation with nondisabled peers, statewide assessment accommodations, service dates, and transition services by age 16.
Progress monitoring
Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) uses brief, standardized, repeated measures. Set a baseline, goal, and aim line; apply decision rules-for example, four consecutive points below the aim line signal a need to change intervention. Goals should name condition, behavior, criterion, and timeframe.
Worked example
Marcus reads 45 words correct per minute (wcpm) at baseline; the team sets a 36-week goal of 90 wcpm with 95% accuracy, measured weekly by CBM. This is measurable and sensitive to growth. If four weekly points fall below the aim line, the team changes intervention rather than waiting for the annual review.
Traps
Writing PLAAFP as a test score without impact; activity-based goals ('will complete worksheets'); annual reevaluation; omitting state-assessment accommodations; confusing eligibility assessment with progress monitoring.