paper on academic assessment of disabled students

Konur, O. (2002) Assessment of disabled students in higher education:
current public policy issues, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education,
27(2), pp. 131-152.

Abstract:
Although there are over 68,000 disabled students in higher education
programs in the UK, a laissez faire policy has been adapted regarding the
provision of assessment services for these students with a result that there
have been no statutory duties for these programs not to discriminate against
them.  With the introduction of the Special Educational Needs and Disability
Act (2001) amending Part IV of the Disability Discrimination Act (1995), it
would be timely to consider assessment related issues and benefits from the
experiences of the US higher education programs and educational testing
agencies in this area since the middle 1970s.  This paper argues that it is
the academic achievement of disabled students that should be measured by the
assessment services, not their disabilities.  Without the provision of
reasonable assessment adjustments, as the research shows, it is inevitable
that disabilities of disabled students would be measured not their academic
achievements, contrary to the main argument put forward by Sharp and Earle
(2000) among others. The paper argues for a historical role for the
educators and administrators of higher education programs in eliminating
discrimination against disabled students in provision of assessment services
at every stage of their studies in the long run.

Key words: Keywords: Higher education, disabled students, Disability
Discrimination Act (1995), Special Educational Needs and Disability Act
(2001), institutional theory, institutions, assessment, public policy,
assessment adjustments, communication and information technology, attitudes
towards disabled students.

57 references, 22 pages, 2 Tables, 1 Figure, 8,000 words excluding
references. Total, 9,900 words.

________________________________
Ozcan KONUR
Postal address: Rehabilitation Resource Centre (Walmsley Building Room
W223), City University, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB, The United
Kingdom.
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Research project URL: http://www.student.city.ac.uk/~cx639/index.htm
Phone: 020 7040 0271



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