Life Skills Assessment
SpEd 556
Norm-Referenced Tests
• Norm-Referenced Tests
– Compare an individual’s performance to
the performance of his or her peers
– Emphasis is on the relative standing of
individuals rather than on absolute mastery
of content
– Designed to separate the performances of
individuals so that there is a distribution of
scores
Norm-Referenced Tests
• Useful for eligibility decisions
• Students with DCD
– Measures of intellectual functioning
– Measures of adaptive behavior
Criterion-Referenced Tests
• Rather than indicating a person’s relative
standing in skill development--measure a
person’s development of particular skills in
term of absolute levels of mastery
• Recommended for the purpose of assisting in
planning appropriate programs for children
• Identifies the specific skills that the student
does or does not have (mastery)
Criterion-Referenced Tests
• Information obtained from criterionreferenced tests facilitate the writing of
objectives
• Test items sample sequential skills-identifying where to begin instruction
and to understand the instructional
sequence
Brigance Assessments
• Brigance Diagnostic Inventory of
Basic Skills
• Brigance Diagnostic Inventory of
Essential Skills
• Brigance Diagnostic Life Skills
Inventory
• Brigance Diagnostic Employability
Skills Inventory
Brigance Diagnostic
Comprehensive Inventory of Basic
Skills
• Primarily used to:
– Assess elementary and
middle school students
• Prekindergarten to grade
nine
– Assess basic academic
skills
• Measurement is:
– Criterion-referenced
• Focus on the content
rather than comparison to
others
• Assessment of 203 skill
sequences in:
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Readiness
Speech
Listening
Reading
Spelling
Writing
Research and study
skills
• Graphs & Maps
• Math
Brigance Basic Skills
Math Skills
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Grade placement
Numbers
Number facts
Computation
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Fractions
Decimals
Percents
Time
Money
Measurement
Brigance Basic Skills
Inventory may be used as:
•
Assessment Instrument
– Identify areas of strength and
weakness
– To identify basic skills within
areas
– Identify instructional objectives
•
Instructional guide
– Objectives stated in functional
and measurable terms
•
Record-keeping and Tracking
System
• The instrument:
– Gives continuity to
your program of
basic skills
– Simplifies and
combines the
processes of
assessing,
diagnosing, recordkeeping, and
instructional planning
Brigance Diagnostic Inventory of
Basic Skills
• Administration
– Too extensive to be
administered in its entirety
– Decide what assessment
will provide the most
valuable data within
reasonable time
– Initiate assessment at the
skill level where student can
be successful (refer to grade
levels in manual)
• Student Record
Book
– Color coding
• Ongoing, graphic,
specific, and easily
interpreted record (see
overheads)
Brigance Diagnostic
Inventory of Essential
Skills
Brigance Inventory of
Essential Skills
• Two parts-– Section A through T--basic academic skills
– Sections U through Z--applied skills
– Applied Skills
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Health & Safety
Vocational
Money & Finance
Travel & Transportation
Food & Clothing
Oral Communication & Telephone Skills
Brigance Inventory of
Essential Skills
• Includes:
– 186 skill sequences
– 10 rating scales
• Easy to follow format
• Has two forms (A&B)
• Easily adapted to accommodate
different assessment situations
Brigance Diagnostic Life
Skills Inventory
Albert H. Brigance
Curriculum Associates, Inc.
Brigance Life Skills
Inventory
• Areas assessed:
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Listening
Speaking
Reading
Writing
Comprehending
Computing
• Within context of
everyday life
situations
Brigance Life Skills
Inventory
• Subscales
– Speaking & listening skills
– Functional Writing Skills
– Words on common signs
and warning labels
– Telephone Skills
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Money and finance
Food
Clothing
Health
Travel & transportation
Brigance Employability Skills
Inventory
Albert H. Brigance
Curriculum Associates, Inc.
Brigance Employability Skills
Inventory
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Subscales
– Reading grade placement
– Career Awareness and Self
Understanding
– Job seeking skills & knowledge
– Rating scales
• Self concept, attitudes,
responsibility, self-discipline,
motor coordination, thinking
skills, job-interview
– Reading skills (in relation to
employment)
– Speaking & listening skills
– Preemployment writing
– Math skills & concepts
Checklist of Adaptive
Living Skills
Checklist of Adaptive Living Skills
(CALS)
• Criterion-referenced, individually administered
measure (infants to mature adults)
– Tool for program planning
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Determine instructional needs
Develop individualized training objectives
Monitor progress of learners
Can be used:
– each time the learner’s long-term goals are evaluated
– each time learner experiences major change in environment
– each time there is need to select new or different skill areas for
evaluation
Checklist of Adaptive Living Skills
(CALS)
• 800 specific adaptive behaviors
• Four domains
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Personal living skills
Home living skills
Community living skills
Employment skills
• Broad domains subdivided into 24 specific skills
modules
• Items arranged in order of progressive difficulty
Life Centered Career
Education Batteries
(LCCE)
Don Brolin
Council for Exceptional Children
(CEC)
LCCE Knowledge Battery
LCCE Knowledge Battery
• Standardized, Criterion-Referenced
Assessment
• Developed to be used with 7-12 grade
students
• 200 multiple choice questions that cover
20 of the 22 competencies
• Sample of basic knowledge
LCCE Performance Battery
• Nonstandardized, criterion-referenced
instrument
• Assesses 21 of the competencies
• Items are performance based
COACH
Selecting Curriculum Areas
• Communication
• Socialization
• Personal
management
• Leisure and
Recreation
• Selected
Academics
• Home
• School
• Community
• Vocational
Additional Learning
Outcomes
• Step 2 designed to identify learning outcomes
beyond the priorities selected during the
Family Interview (top 8 priorities)
• Additional learning outcomes may come from:
– Coach items that were not previously prioritized
– General education
General Supports
• Step 3 is designed to determine and
document general supports that are
necessary for the student to access and
participate in his or her individualized
education program
• They clarify what other needs to do to or
for the student
Scheduling Matrix
• The purpose of this step is to explore
scheduling possibilities by comparing
the student’s educational program
components to general class activities.
Assessment Overview
• Brigance Scales
– Assess basic skills, life skills, employability skills (direct
assessment with some indirect with rating scales)
• Checklist of Adaptive Behavior (CALS)
– Criterion-referenced adaptive behavior assessment (indirect
assessment)
• LCCE Batteries
– Knowledge Battery-direct assessment of students’ knowledge of
like skill issues
– Performance Battery-direct assessment of students’ performance
relative to life skills (with some rating scales)
• COACH
– Assessment process that identifies & prioritizes student needs,
additional learning outcomes, and general supports to include
addressing how needs can be addressed in the general education
classroom