Assessment in special education is useful when it helps us make decisions that promote appropriate and effective services to students. In particular, assessment should assist us in making two general types of decisions: (I) who should be served? (classification decisions); and (2) how should eligible students be served? (programming decisions). Although all of us involved in special education recognize that assessment is crucially involved in our efforts to make appropriate classification and

more »

... ogramming decisions, we are often much less sure about how to provide helpful assessment services. We ask questions such as: How should we organize our assessment program? How can we assess all the students who need it and still ensure quality assessment work? What assessment techniques should be used with different types of students? The specific suggestions in this article may be more easily applied in some school systems than in others. This caution reflects several important points. One is that assessment requires integration of a number of factors including goals of assessment, legal requirements, ethical responsibilities, and available assessment techniques (Helton, Workman, & Matuszek, 1982, pp. 1-2). Partly because of the need to integrate so many factors, assessment is a complex activity, subject to varied emphases and interpretations. It is also an activity that generates much controversy about specific theoretical and applied issues. Hence, each professional involved in assessment and each school system must ultimately make judgments about the varied emphases, interpretations, and viewpoints, rather than depending on others for "packaged" answers. And, of course, a genuine concern for our students and honest teamwork are necessary in any assessment program. Dr. Helton is Associate Professor of Psychology and Coordinator of the Graduate Program in School Psychology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He formerly held positions as a school psychologist and as a school administrator.