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Providing diagnostic feedback about growth is crucial to formative decisions such as targeted remedial instructions or interventions. This article proposed a longitudinal higher-order diagnostic classification modeling approach for measuring growth. The new modeling approach is able to provide quantitative values of overall and individual growth by constructing a multidimensional higher-order latent structure to take into account the correlations among multiple latent attributes that are examined across different occasions. In addition, potential local item dependence among anchor (or repeated) items can be taken into account. Model parameter estimation is explored in a simulation study. An empirical example is analyzed to illustrate the applications and advantages of the proposed modeling approach.

Principals and teachers do not use large-scale assessment results because the lack of distinct and reliable subtests prevents identifying strengths and weaknesses of students and instruction, the results arrive too late to be used, and principals and teachers need assistance to use the results to improve instruction so as to improve student learning. Therefore, it is recommended that the first assessment activity should be to clearly establish that the domain to be assessed is multidimensional. Given this, the assessment schedule should be changed so that a given subject area is assessed in non-consecutive years but the number of sittings remains the same each year. Assistance should be provided to principals and teachers so as to increase their understanding of how to use large-scale assessment results. Three suggested assessment cycles are presented, each of which increases the reliability of subtests and provides principals and teachers with at least two years to make changes in instruction.

The present experimental study was undertaken with three objectives in view, (i) to identify students with language learning disabilities (ii) to develop CAI software to teach LD students through computer-assisted instruction and (iii) to measure the effectiveness of CAI with special reference to LD students. Two matched groups of LD students were constituted for the purpose of this experiment and a normal group comprising average and above average students was also formed in order to assess how far Computer-Assisted Instruction enabled the LD students to cope with normal students. The control group and the normal group were taught through traditional lecture method while the experimental group was taught through Computer-Assisted Instruction. The obtained results show that the computer-assisted instruction was more effective than the traditional lecture method in teaching and learning of English with record to the students with language learning disabilities and it enabled the LD students to cope with normal students to a considerable extent.

The article deals with the description of the experimental work aimed at testing the effectiveness of the pedagogical conditions used in the environmental education of senior pupils by means of a foreign language. It is worth mentioning that during the experiment under the detection of the formation of the environmental education of senior pupils were identified the indicators by which we understand the environmental characteristics of the personality traits. The results were derived from the methods used in the process of the experiment, such as: conversation, testing, verification of empirical skills, analysis and synthesis. On the whole the difference in the results of the experimental groups significantly allows us to state the effectiveness of pedagogical conditions of the environmental education of senior pupils by means of a foreign language.

This study examined the extent of the teachers' of the first grade applying to the components of diagnostic evaluation in teaching dictation in Ma'an, and the answer two question this study, the researcher chose a sample consisting of (60) teachers (females) who teach this grade, holders of B.A degree. The researcher attended classes with these teachers and detected the notes by the remarks' card, and spotted remarks by Card note that by The Reliability and The Validity was 0,84. Data were statistically analyzed and the study concluded that the teachers who teach dictation apply the components of the diagnostic evaluation, and also showed that there was no statistically significant differences due to the variable of the four educational directorates in Ma'an, which show that the teachers apply the contents of the training courses that are conducted by the Ministry of Education to qualify them for teaching. The researcher proposed a set of recommendations mentioned at the end of the study.

In recent years, with support from the Texas Legislature, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has funded various developmental education initiatives, including research and evaluation efforts, to help Texas public institutions of higher education provide more effective programs and services to underprepared students. Based on evaluation results from the various initiatives, especially the Developmental Education Demonstration Projects, a number of identified promising practices continue to be scaled and further evaluated in developmental education projects funded through August 2015. This report provides an update on the progress of developmental education initiatives and recommendations for future efforts to effectively and efficiently improve the persistence and success of underprepared students as they strive to reach their academic and career goals. [The authorship of this article is attributed to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.]

A critical issue in teacher preparation today is that some candidates meet the criteria for admission to teacher education programs yet they struggle or fail to develop the levels of knowledge, skills, and/or dispositions required to complete the program. This article offers three different case studies to examine the monitoring process developed by one teacher preparation program to identify such students and provide effective interventions.

The prevalence of autism is increasing globally. While most of the published works are done in the Western and European countries, the trend in autism research is shifting towards the Asian continent recently. In this review, we aimed to highlight the current prevalence, diagnosis, treatment and research on Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in Singapore and Malaysia. Based on database searches, we found that the awareness about autism among lay and professional public is higher in Singapore compared to Malaysia. The special education system and approach towards autism treatment is also different between both societies although the culture is similar and the geographic location is close. Main findings and implications were discussed in this review. The lack of study on autism prevalence in this part of the world commands a critical need for further research. Perhaps more collaborative work between both countries could be done to expand the knowledge in autism.

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability in reading and writing, which requires adequate early intervention to prevent future school failure. We describe the diagnostic assessment of a 7-year-old boy labelled "dyslexic", the evaluation of his family, social, medical, developmental, and academic status as a preliminary for the design and implementation of a personalized intervention programme. The diagnostic evaluation shows a poor performance in written language, especially in accuracy reading and spelling and reading fluency, making more mistakes in the tests of TALE than normal readers of first level of primary education, and needing consolidate and automate the most of graph-phoneme correspondences. The intervention program continued to be characterized by individual attention, structured and focused on written language, which aims to improve the educational needs that the student has in reading and writing. The teaching and learning experiences that take place following a multisensory approach, which combines the modalities visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, and tactile, in a context of written language as natural and meaningful as possible. After 30 weeks of thrice-weekly sessions, the student has achieved significant improvement in both reading and writing, reducing the number of errors in accuracy and fluency, and improved spelling and joints and fragmentation of words in their written compositions. This progress in the tasks in which previously the child experienced failure demonstrates the effectiveness of the program. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

Cerebral palsy (CP) is an umbrella term for a neurodevelopmental disorder with a wide variety of motor impairment or motor control problems (Bourke-Taylor et al., 2018). CP is classified by body regions affected (hemi-, dis-, and quad-) and by the type of movement impairment (spastic, dyskinetic, and ataxic). Many cases can be classified as mixed type CP. The severity and symptoms differ between individuals based on the extent and location of the underlying lesions. There are many primary and secondary conditions that can affect a child's functioning inside and outside of school (Radonovich & Slinger-Constant, 2008). It is best practice to have school, parent, student, and allied professionals work together so students are able to reach their full potential. This article describes how a collaborative effort from all parties is the best way to help ensure these children are able to receive a successful school experience.

The postsecondary experiences of adults diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) were examined in this qualitative research. Tinto's Student Integration Model (SIM) (1975, 1997) provided the theoretical framework that guided the study. Tinto posits that the interplay of background characteristics, academic integration, and social integration affect persistence in postsecondary education. The participants included four adults with FASD (3 males and 1 female) and their parents. In-depth interviews were conducted with the adults with FASD and their parents responded to open-ended questions in an online survey. Only one of the adults completed a postsecondary program. It was found that the background characteristic factor, and specifically having FASD, affected academic and social integration. Suggestions for revisions to the SIM are proposed, recommendations for postsecondary course instructors and academic counselors are made, and factors to consider when selecting a postsecondary program for an individual with FASD are described.

Every school system has to deal with children with Learning Disabilities (LD). However, the concepts of LD, the assessment procedures, the diagnostic criteria as well as their interpretation vary widely from country to country. What they usually have in common is that general cognitive abilities, as measured by standardized IQ tests, are seen as an important aspect. In Austrian schools the diagnosis of LD is largely based on expert opinions provided by special education teachers. The diagnostic procedure is quite unregulated and open to individual interpretation. As a rule, standardized tests are not used in this connection. In the present study the characteristics of children with a diagnosis of LD are evaluated in terms of standardized testing. 37 pupils diagnosed as having LD and 136 regular school children were assessed at the end of the 5th grade in Austrian schools using standardized tests of intelligence, reading, writing and arithmetic skills and questionnaires regarding social integration in their class, emotional integration in their school and the cultural capital of their families. Compared with a group of pupils without LD, matched for IQ and age, the LD children showed significantly worse basic arithmetic and reading skills, inferior social integration in class and lower familial cultural capital. A stepwise logistic regression analysis indicated that poor basic arithmetic and reading skills were the strongest predictors of having a diagnosis of LD. Other variables, including IQ, had significantly less weight. The results are seen as indication of the fact that precise guidelines for diagnosing LD in the school system and a transition to a system of evidence-based allocation of resources are urgently needed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of the special educator within a response-to-intervention (RTI) framework and to examine what instructional behaviors special educators evidence most frequently in the advanced RTI tiers (i.e., tiers beyond tier 1). Specifically, these two issues were investigated with regard to: (a) proportion of the special educator's time spent in the four key roles as defined by the literature (i.e., collaborator, interventionist, diagnostician, manager); (b) the behaviors special educators evidence most frequently within each role; (c) instructional practices that are used most frequently by special educators; and (d) instructional practices used by special educators that are aligned with effective instructional practices that have been identified in the empirical literature. Seven special educators participated in this study. Over 7000 minutes of observational data were collected focusing on role components and instructional practices. Interviews were also conducted with all participants. Role component observational data showed that special educators are required to perform a wide array of tasks in various settings in collaboration with multiple professionals, students and parents. Instruction observational data showed that special educators are using their limited amount of instructional time in practices which produce the greatest effects, but there were little differences noted between instructional practices in the advanced tiers of instruction. (Contains 7 tables and 2 figures.)

Saudi Ministry of education is highly concerned with the pursuit of excellence in effective EFL teaching-learning in the arena of education but it experiences tardy progress especially in college level. This is a common scenario in almost every stage of learning in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Behind this backdrop, this paper explores the new flights and avenues of developing EFL teaching-learning aspect in the intermediate level. The author of this study valorised to investigate the possible corridors in the realm of language learning motivation with a view to developing and incorporating EFL teaching-learning affairs and attempts to diagnose the predicaments of EFL learning in Saudi colleges through survey questionnaires for both teachers and students (see Appendix 1 and 2) and observation. The data of this research were collected through questionnaires from a total of 380 students and 94 teachers at renowned institutions of all the regions of the Kingdom. Finally, this paper offers some useful and effective recommendations to speed up better EFL learning outcomes based on the results of statistical data analyses and observation of the present research survey. Two appendixes present: (1) Questionnaire for Saudi EFL Students; and (2) Questionnaire for Saudi EFL Teachers. (Contains 1 figure and 15 tables.)

Assessment personnel are those individuals who work in the capacity of evaluation of students with disabilities, including, but not limited to, educational diagnosticians, educational examiners, psychometrists, and instructional specialists. These professionals are responsible for identifying strengths and weaknesses and for providing teachers with evidence-based recommendations that can be implemented in the classroom to improve performance of students with learning deficits. This qualitative study examines 19 educational diagnosticians' perceptions related to the barriers and supports that impacted their ability to provide evidence-based recommendations for students who are learning disabled. Three categories of barriers to issuing successful evidence-based recommendations emerged as a result of the study: "Knowledge of Evidence-Based Interventions," "Time to Complete Assessments," and "Support from Administrators and Teachers."

The study substantiates that the effectiveness of Discovery Learning method in learning English Grammar for the learners at standard V. Discovery Learning is particularly beneficial for any student learning a second language. It promotes peer interaction and development of the language and the learning of concepts with content. Reichert and Raimond (2005 ) suggest that Discovery learning is a highly student-centered and self-directed form of learning. According to Allen (2002), in an example of discovery learning in action, DaimlerChrysler uses guided discovery learning principles for teaching maintenance engineers to troubleshoot automotive electrical systems. Objectives of the study: 1. To diagnose the problems of the learners in learning English Grammar through conventional methods. 2. To find out the significant difference in achievement mean score between the pre test of control group and post test of control group. 3. To find out the significant difference in achievement mean score between the pre test of Experimental group and post test of Experimental group. 4. To find out the significant difference in achievement mean score between the post test of controlled group and the second post test of treatment given controlled group. 5. To find out the impact of Discovery Learning Strategies in learning English Grammar. Methodology: Rotational group Experimental method was adopted in the study. Participants: Sixty students of studying in standard V from Bommanampalayam Middle School were selected as sample for the study. Instrumentation: Researcher's self-made achievement test was used as instrumentation for the study. Procedure of the study: The following activities were designed: 1. Diagnose the problems. 2. Designing the Discovery learning. 3. Face-to-Face interaction. 4. Internet interaction. 5. Team interaction. 6. Team pair Table and 7. Presentation. Findings: Discovery Learning Strategies is more effective than traditional methods in learning English Grammar for the learners at standard V. Educational implications: It can be implemented to all other the languages learning.

Physics educators around the world often need reliable diagnostic materials to measure students' understanding of physics concept in high school. The purpose of this study is to evaluate a new diagnostic tool on High School Optics concept. Test of Conceptual Understanding on High School Optics (TOCUSO) consists of 25 conceptual items that measures fundamental topics learned in high school curriculum. TOCUSO was designed with the use of various Optics textbooks, Turkish University exam questions, and questions generated by the author. TOCUSO items were structured as multiple-choice questions. 12 physics faculty members at the school of science and education validated questionnaire items. SPSS program was utilized to calculate reliability values of the test. KR-20 value was found around 0.73, which shows TOCUSO is a reliable measurement questionnaire. TOCUSO was applied to 183 high school students enrolled in 10th grade at the time of data collection process in Kayseri providence in Turkey.

This paper discusses the use of a Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in the context of a Youth Justice Residential school setting in New Zealand (NZ). The school does not currently have a method of screening for educational purposes and, more specifically, key competencies. The use of the SDQ as a tool to support the educational principle was considered in response to professional development at Massey University, and the emergence of Ka Hikitia "Managing for Success" (Ministry of Education, 2008). This paper outlines the institutional setting and the rationale for using the SDQ to support key competencies, provides some examples of research using the SDQ, and finally investigates and illustrates this institutional process of using a strengths-based emotional assessment tool with an individual student. The project, whilst in its infancy, suggests that the SDQ could be a valuable instrument in supporting the development of key competencies for vulnerable young people, as it promotes the young person's perceptions of their skills and encourages practitioners to view students' strengths. More extensive research, in practice settings, should be done to develop exemplars that link with key competencies. Further, the SDQ needs to have more extensive piloting and norms developed for New Zealand to promote educational solutions for encouraging student successes and key competencies. (Contains 1 footnote.)

Promoting the development of students' scientific inquiry capabilities is a major learning objective in science education. As a result, teachers require effective assessment approaches to evaluate students' scientific inquiry-related performance. Teachers must also be able to offer appropriate supplementary instructions, as needed, to students. Scientific inquiry capabilities should be assessed by evaluating students' scientific inquiry portfolios in actual hands-on experiments. Although virtual laboratory systems can reduce the cost of conducting scientific inquiry experiments, the manual portfolio assessment approach is still difficult and time-consuming for teachers. Therefore, in this paper, in order to provide students with personalized learning guidance concerning not only the conceptual knowledge, but also the high-order, integrative abilities of scientific inquiry, an Online Portfolio Assessment and Diagnosis Scheme, called OPASS, was proposed to assist teachers in automatically assessing and diagnosing students' abilities as they relate to scientific inquiry performance. Personalized diagnostic reports were generated by employing the rule-based inference approach, which diagnosed learning problems and provided corresponding reasons and remedial suggestions based on teacher-defined assessment knowledge of the scientific inquiry experiment. For the evaluation, experimental results showed that the OPASS was helpful and beneficial for both students and teachers. (Contains 13 tables and 11 figures.)

Although there has been much discussion about improving college student writing with college-level courses, little is known about how accounting programs, in particular, are addressing the writing proficiency challenge. This study surveys the 852 accounting programs in the United States to identify the frequency and types of accounting writing courses currently offered. Results indicate that few schools require an accounting-specific writing course or require students to pass any kind of writing proficiency test as juniors or seniors. Most programs do, however, require students to demonstrate English composition skills within several of the upper division accounting courses. Most department chairs do not believe that the graduates of their programs write well enough.

Both California state law and the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) require that all schools assess the English language proficiency of newly enrolled students who speak a language other than English at home and, annually, all English learners (ELs) already enrolled. California meets this requirement by administering the California English Language Development Test, or CELDT. The CELDT has three primary purposes: to identify students who are ELs, determine their English proficiency level, and assess their progress in acquiring listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in English through time. We examine data on the validity and reliability of the CELDT to determine if it is an appropriate tool for carrying out these purposes. We conclude that the CELDT is likely a sufficiently valid and reliable tool for making judgments about groups of students but not for making crucial educational decisions about "individual" students.

A growing body of evidence indicates that for some children, early incidences of challenging behaviors are predictors of later difficulties. These incidences of challenging behaviors may predict mental health issues, social adjustment issues and/or increased challenging behaviors that will impede school success and impact transition to adult life (Lipsey & Derzon, 1998; Wagner, Cometo & Newman, 2003; Walker, Ramsey & Gresham, 2005). This study seeks to explore the relationship between two commonly used assessments in early childhood settings, the Battelle Developmental Inventory (BDI) (given by caregivers/teachers) (Newborg, 2005) and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBC) (given by both parents and caregivers/teachers) (Achenbach, 2000). Two significant correlations that linked the use of the BDI and the CBC were found. Further research is needed with larger sample sizes. (Contains 1 table.) [This research was funded by a Leahy Faculty Research Grant.]

Although international and domestic students applying to English-medium universities may well meet the minimum language entry requirement, recent research indicates that this level of language proficiency often does not provide students with the means to cope effectively with their academic studies (Barthel, 2007; Elder, 2003; Read & Hayes, 2003). To resolve this dilemma our major, multicultural New Zealand university is addressing the problem through implementation of the Diagnostic English Language Needs Assessment (DELNA), a post-entry programme administered to all first-year undergraduate students, regardless of their language background. We use the diagnostic outcomes to guide individual students with particular needs to appropriate forms of academic language enrichment. This paper outlines DELNA's history and administration, student responses to the assessment and the subsequent development and uptake of language support options.

The present study illuminates and diagnoses the learning problems of the rural learners in English Grammar at standard VI. Present study may be useful to ameliorate the rural learners for acquiring competencies in English and eliminates the problems of the learners. It paves way to the teachers to diagnose the learning hurdles of the learners and supports to take necessary remedial teaching to enhance the achievements of the learners in English. Objectives of the study: 1.To diagnose the learning problems of the rural learners in English Grammar at standard VI. 2. To find out the difficulty items of the rural learners in English Grammar. 3. To find out the causes of difficulties of the rural learners in learning English Grammar. 4. To find out the significant association between the male and female teachers on opinion of difficulty items of learning English. Methodology: Survey method was adopted in the study. Sample: Two hundred pupils of standard VI and one hundred teachers in rural Panchayat Union Middle school, Coimbatore district were selected as sample for the study. Tools: Researcher's self-made diagnostic test and an opinionnaire for the teachers were used as tools for the study. Procedure of the study: 1. Identification of the difficulties by administering diagnostic test. 2. Identifying the difficulties of the learners from the opinion of the teachers. Findings: The learners have problems in the following items of grammar such as Pronunciation, preposition, conjunction, sentence pattern and semantics. Educational implications: It may be helpful to revamp the rural pupils in English.

Children and young people with disabilities educated in their local school may need services to get equal access to the curriculum. To ensure that any educationally-relevant services achieve the best outcomes, the students' own voices and perspectives should also be included. This paper introduces the School Setting Interview (SSI), an interview-based assessment that helps occupational therapists to understand the barriers to, and facilitators of, inclusion from the student's perspective. This information added to that identified by the teaching team and the parents/caregivers, can only lead to a "fuller picture" which all the team can draw from when determining issues and identifying potential strategies to address. (Contains 1 table.)

The purpose of this article is to reflect on the effects of educational reforms (which are guided by a neoliberal political agenda) on educational processes, outcomes, and inclusive education in Sweden. It is focused in particular on the increasing marginalisation and exclusion of students with special educational needs, immigrant students, and socially disadvantaged segments of the population. It sheds light on the mechanism in which the changes are framed: neoliberal philosophies that place greater emphasis on devolution, marketization (driven by principles of cost containment and efficiency), competition, standardization, individual choices and rights, development of new profiles within particular school units, and other factors that potentially work against the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion. I argue here that marginalisation and segregation of socially disadvantaged and ethnic minority groups has increased as a consequence of this new wave of policy measures. Resultant resource differences have widened among schools and municipalities and among pupils. Swedish efforts in the past to promote equity through a variety of educational policies have been fascinating. Those early educational policies, including the macro-political agenda focused on the social welfare model, have helped to diminish the effects of differential social, cultural, and economic background on outcomes. This has come under threat. There is still some hope, however, of mitigating the situation through varied social and educational measures combined with an effective monitoring system and a stronger partnership and transparent working relationship between the central and local government systems. Research and follow-up are crucial in this process. (Contains 2 notes.)

Research has indicated that educational diagnoses can differ from clinical diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This brief report provides an updated analysis using 2014--2015 IDEIA data compared to the contemporary CDC prevalence rate (1 in 59). Additionally, the variable of sex was analysed, which was omitted from the previous study. Results show a greater discrepancy in educational diagnoses for girls versus boys as compared to the clinical diagnoses. For race/ethnicity, only Asian American children were more likely to have an educational diagnosis versus a clinical diagnosis of ASD.

Early Warning Systems (EWS) and Early Warning Indictors (EWI) have recently emerged as an attractive domain for states and school districts interested in predicting student outcomes using data that schools already collect with the intention to better time and tailor interventions. However, current diagnostic measures used across the domain do not consider the dual issues of sensitivity and specificity of predictors, key components for considering accuracy. We apply signal detection theory using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) Area Under the Curve (AUC) analysis adapted from the engineering and medical domains, and using the pROC package in R. Using nationally generalizable data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002) we provide examples of applying ROC accuracy analysis to a variety of predictors of student outcomes, such as dropping out of high school, college enrollment, and postsecondary STEM degrees and careers.

School resource room guidance personnel handle services to students with disabilities in institutions of higher education in Taiwan. This study conducted a survey of the kind of work performed by university and college resource room guidance personnel, and used a questionnaire to investigate 244 such personnel. This questionnaire contained 'background variables' and 'five major aspects of work' sections; the five major aspects of work were 'reporting diagnoses', 'recruiting and examination services', 'individualized support plans', 'barrier-free services' and 'assistance with activities'. The findings indicated that differences existed in the work situation of guidance personnel of different ages, years of service, school type, night shift, work evaluation and incentive mechanisms and handling services apart from special education. No significant differences were found in gender, marital status and educational attainment. Based on these findings, the researchers made recommendations about resource room guidance personnel and their work situation at universities and colleges in Taiwan.