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A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

ACCOUNTABILITY LEADS TO BETTER EDUCATIONAL SERVICES FOR STUDENTS

I'll never forget the year that followed passage of P.L. 94-142. Professionals and parents alike were excited, challenged, frightened, and confused. We were entering a new era, and we weren't at all sure we would like the future. Some of us were deeply troubled that the great strides made by educators and parents of visually impaired students would suffer a tremendous setback under the provisions of this new legislation. Someday I'll write about the myths and reality of some of those concerns, and many other aspects of implementation of P.L. 94-142. But for now, I'd like to say a few words about assessment.

Sometime shortly after this landmark legislation passed, I met with a group of about 50 itinerant teachers from throughout Northern California. Our task was to learn how to write IEPs. At our first meeting, as we studied the new law and its regulations, we discovered a fundamental truth. One could not write an IEP until a thorough assessment of the student was completed, because the IEP is based on the identification of assessed needs. While this may be something of an exaggeration, it seemed to me that we sat in a room, staring at each other, saying to ourselves, "Well, who is going to teach us how to assess"? Perhaps it was even a worse moment than that, with many of us thinking, "We've never assessed before--why are we being forced to do it now"?

For the first time in my professional life, the passage of what is now IDEA called me to accountability. I was no longer checking out children casually and informally; applying my own standards for deciding what they should learn; then setting about to do God's work. Instead I had to conduct comprehensive assessments; work with parents to establish goals and objectives based on the child's assessment results; and then be held accountable for meeting those goals.

That group of itinerant teachers and I, back in Northern California, set about immediately to learn what this mysterious word "assessment" meant. We found that P.L. 94-142 required that five areas of learning be included in a comprehensive assessment: (1) academic learning; (2) motor development (orientation and mobility); (3) career education; (4) social/emotional needs; (5) independent living skills. (Now you know the origin of much of the expanded core curriculum.) We thought that sounded very logical and we set about to develop "criterion-referenced" tests for all five areas. We all armed ourselves with assessment instruments (some standardized, some teacher-made) before we ever set about to write an IEP.

There are a few thoughts that I'd like to leave with you based on this old, old lesson. First, a comprehensive assessment consists of more than an achievement test and a functional low vision assessment, and I've seen many student folders that included only these two sources of information. Our commitment to our profession and our integrity require that we settle for no less than a comprehensive assessment that includes every area of the expanded core curriculum. How will we ever know if a child needs instruction in social interaction skills if we don't assess her performance in this area?

In local school districts, in order to assure a comprehensive assessment, the teacher for the visually impaired or the orientation and mobility instructor must be the "captain" of the assessment team. We cannot depend on generalist school psychologists to determine the contents of a comprehensive assessment. Their experience with blind and visually impaired students is too limited. This is true of other generic support staff. So you and I must assume responsibility for conducting and/or orchestrating the comprehensive assessment.

And finally, much as I sometimes long for the good old days, I know in my professional heart and mind that being held accountable through the processes of assessment, IEP development and evaluation is good for students, good for parents, good for me, and good for our profession.

Volume 6, No. 2, April 2000 Contents

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