Child and Adult Educational Evaluation

Why Should I or My Child be Formally Evaluated for Academic Achievement?

Is your child struggling to complete or keep up with class assignments? Is homework a stressor? Do you suspect your child has a possible learning disability? Is your child not being challenged and provided with instruction to match their ability? Do you want an objective evaluation of where your child is performing academically when compared to same-age peers due to many factors, including the impact from the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent disruption to the educational systems? Or did you struggle in school and want to understand why? It is important to have a thorough educational evaluation to determine what skills you or your child have developed and if those skills are sufficient to support further learning. Many evaluators give a general battery of tests and do not follow up in areas of need and in areas that are significant to the referral concern/question. In addition to comprehensive testing, an educational evaluation provides a comprehensive look at a child’s academic and developmental history. Testing and educational data are used to assist in developing hypotheses about why a problem is occurring (or not) and to identify a student’s specific skill deficits and strengths to determine the instructional focus and to inform decisions about how to adapt and individualize interventions (NC 1500-2.8).

What Does the Assessment Process for an Educational Evaluation Involve?

All clients who are being evaluated for academic clarity can expect for parents/self to have a thorough clinical interview prior to scheduling testing to determine whether further testing is appropriate. For most clients, testing will involve the administration of a complete battery of the KTEA-3 with selected subtests administered from the WJ-IV, GORT-5, CTOPP-2, and/or TOC. Importantly, additional information is gathered, including a thorough review of the academic record. Using all data, a formal evaluation report is written, when appropriate a diagnosis for a Learning Disorder is confirmed or ruled out, and recommendations are made for interventions/accommodations.

What Domains are Tested on an Educational Evaluation?

Areas of evaluation typically include oral language, reading, writing, and mathematics and the framework of the evaluation standards is designed to maximize diagnostic accuracy by balancing both breadth and depth with efficiency and incremental validity. The educational testing assesses both broad and narrow academic skills. Consideration of several factors, including but not limited to, the age and developmental level of the student and language skills; and the specific referral concerns impact which tests are administered.

How Long Does the Assessment Process Take?

Following the initial interview, during which the clinical history is taken and a determination is made to go forward with the testing process, an appointment for testing is usually made for 1-2 weeks later; this allows you, the client, time to provide relevant documentation (e.g., school report cards, MTSS meeting notes, IEPS, or previous evaluation reports). The actual face-to-face testing session is roughly 3 hours in length, with appropriate breaks given as needed. Parents/adult clients can expect to have a face-to-face feedback session and receive a copy of the evaluation report approximately 2 weeks after all testing is completed.