Assessment in inclusive classrooms

   Assessment practices in inclusive classrooms in pre-primary and primary education will be examined against the backdrop of ongoing educational reform and examples of good or best practice will be teased out and highlighted.

Pre-Primary Education

Teachers are advised to conduct initial (or baseline) assessments in order to ascertain each pupil’s level of development on entry.  Such assessment include obtaining information from parents through questionnaires and/or interviews regarding the medical and developmental history of pupils. It also includes observation, informal assessment or completion of more formal checklists (criterion based assessment).  Teachers are provided with guidelines and samples of questionnaires and checklists but there is flexibility as to the use of particular methods and procedures especially if the school unit under the guidance of the head teacher adopts these. Areas assessed include psychomotor ability, language and communication skills, cognitive skills, emotional development, development of social skills and personal adjustment.
There is heightened awareness among pre-primary teachers of the importance of early identification and intervention and pre-primary teachers are especially careful to refer any pupil showing problems in language and speech development.  Moreover, in a recent (2005)  study concerned with the piloting of a set of tests for early diagnosis of learning and other difficulties, conducted by the University of Cyprus and the Educational Psychology Service of the Ministry of Education and Culture, it was found that “overall, the ratings given by the classroom teachers appeared to coincide with those obtained by the administration of the psychometric tests”.  This is taken as an indication of teachers´ heightened awareness and sensitivity in picking up signs that pupils in their charge may be having difficulties.
In cases where teacher assessment shows that a particular pupil may lag behind developmentally or have other emotional or behavioural difficulties then he/she has the option to follow the procedures set out by the recently introduced Mechanism for Identification and Support of Pupils with Learning and Emotional Difficulties (2004) .
Teachers may be informed of pupils with special needs on entry either through parents (in the manner described above) or through other services (paediatric departments, pupil psychiatric units, social services etc) or through the Service for the Co-ordination of Early Intervention.  In such cases, if the pupil has not undergone assessment by the appropriate District Committee for Special Education and Training as prescribed by Law (1999) , he/she is referred by the teacher following the proper procedures.
Teachers who are designated as members of a multi-disciplinary assessment team by the District Committee for Special Education and Training are required to formally submit a written report containing information about the developmental and learning attainments of the particular pupil under assessment.