Reasons for Assessing Children
For each example below, write in the box which of the eight possible purposes of assessment is
being illustrated: screening, diagnosis, eligibility, program planning, instructional planning,
progress evaluation, transition planning, program evaluation, or accountability. (Each purpose
may be used once, more than once, or not at all.)
Example
1. A mini-team core evaluation has been conducted to determine whether 2year-old Henry’s language is delayed enough to merit EI services.
2. Sunnyside School District is writing a report for NYSED in which they include
the average ELA scores for all of their third-graders to show that the
students from their district are keeping up with others in NYS.
3
Randolph has been struggling with reading in second grade. He is being
assessed by a team to find out whether his scores follow a pattern that will
qualify him for school-age services for a specific learning disability.
4. A week later, Randolph was given tests of phonological processing, visual
memory, auditory discrimination, and overall intelligence in an effort to find
out the source of his difficulties with reading.
5. The results from the assessment for Randolph are being used to decide
what to put into his IEP in terms of which services he gets and how often
they’ll be delivered.
6. Randolph began receiving services for a reading disability two weeks ago.
Now, his teacher is giving him the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test to find
out which specific skills he hasn’t yet mastered so she’ll know what to work
on and at what level.
7. At the end of the school year, Randolph (previous example) was given the
WRMT again to see how much he has learned after a year of intervention.
8. A comprehensive assessment is being done with Tommy, age 5, who has
been receiving preschool special ed services ever since he was diagnosed
with autism spectrum disorder at the age of 3. The goal of the assessment is
to decide what placement option will be best for him when he begins
kindergarten four months from now.
9. Baywater School District implemented a new “Write Connection”
curriculum last year. Principal Smith has requested a report comparing the
mean ELA scores of this year’s third-graders to those of third-graders in the
previous 3 years so she can see whether the new curriculum is working.
10. Yuan is nearly 3 years old, has serious physical disabilities, and has been
receiving EI services since she was 1. She will definitely need to continue on
to preschool special education, so further evaluation is being done to
determine the best arrangements for her at the PSE level.
11. Ms. Simpson is going through the results from the Terra Nova, a group
achievement test that was given to all first-graders in North Haven School
District, to decide which children should receive a more extensive
evaluation of their academic skills.
(Rev. 2022)
Purpose