Informal Assessment

The Special Education program serves the rural county in the mid-south region of the United States. The Special Education Program is currently serving one- hundred students in the school district (four schools). A little under half of the faculty that is in the special education program possesses a graduate degree, and the other staff members have a bachelor degree in Special Education or add-on endorsements. The paraeducators have completed the highly-qualified assessment and in-service programs. The Special Education program evaluation consist of four schools (two middle schools and two high schools) with students with disabilities with a demographic of 85% Caucasian students, 10% African American students, 1% Asian students, and 4% Hispanic
Informal assessment allows for a wider picture of the total student through portfolios, anecdotal notes, and works sample to ensure formal assessments are accurate because a student may just not be interested in the instructional strategies with one educator, but flourish with another teacher. The formal assessment uses standardized testing and IQ test, which allows for educators to evaluate the student based on the normal curve to determine if there is a deficit. Standardized testing can contain biased questions that limit the proficiency of students with certain disabilities and/or learning styles (Navarete, Wilde, Nelson, Martinez, & Hargett, 1990). The informal assessments in the special education program are carried out by the Special education teachers and the paraeducators throughout the school year. The informal assessments contain a portfolio of the students work, anecdotal notes (created by the teacher and the paraeducator), and criterion-references test created and carried out by the special education teacher and the highly-qualified paraeducator. In determining and carrying out the assessments whether it is formal or informal, educators must remember that no single assessment can be used to determine if a student has a disability (Pierangelo & Giuliani,
The special education program is evaluated by an outside firm because it allows for biases to be reduced with validity and reliability. Another important external evaluation of the programs is parent survey through an on-line site. This allows for the district to determine the parent’s thoughts about the program. Internally, the special education programs are reviewed and conducted by the school special education director, principals, and the district office (superintendent), and is usually conducted three times during the school year with continuous meetings throughout the year. The special education programs have many strengths and weaknesses. The strengths of the programs are that the special education program has established additional programs to provide support systems for students. Another strength of the special education program is that the district hires highly qualified paraeducators as this helps with accountability of the program, and ensure extra support for teaching professionals. Another strength of the program is that the program has established a survey on-line for parents to evaluate the special education program. The weaknesses of the overall special education are that the