Impact of assessment on learner groups (disabilities)

Changes in assessment policies and practices at the national and state level are having a major impact on thinking about the education of children with disabilities and special educational needs. If such assessment is to have a positive impact on raising standards for all students, then significant challenges have to be addressed. This will involve reviewing and revising historic practices for identifying disabilities and assessing children’s needs in education and incorporating new thinking about why some children experience difficulties in learning. Children with special needs will continue to be excluded from participation so long as norm-referenced assumptions about human abilities are used to inform assessment policies and practices.