An Inside Look at School Reform: What We Have Learned about Assessing Student Learning in a Nongraded Primary School.

This paper provides background information on school reform and describes efforts to implement an assessment system for students with disabilities in 12 nongraded primary classrooms. Background information briefly covers the school restructuring movement, the history of nongraded primary education, alternative assessment strategies which focus on real world applications, and the application of assessment procedures to general and special education needs. The assessment system described was designed to: (1) provide teachers with information they consider important; (2) document student achievement over time and in relation to normal achieving peers; and (3) facilitate communication between general and special education teachers. The program developed assessment tasks in reading, written expression, and mathematics. Discussion was limited to reading and written expression because of space and because teachers were more satisfied with the assessment information in these areas. Examples of assessment tasks included identification of letter names, knowledge of most common letter sounds, and sentence copying for early primary (kindergarten and grade 1) students; and oral reading fluency and creative writing for late primary (grades 2 and 3) students. Assessment at the end of the first year provided information on current practices and student performance, and these classroom-based authentic assessment procedures are to be continued a second year. Increased frequency in monitoring assessment of students identified as at risk is also planned. (Contains 12 references.) (DB)