EDUCATIONAL-ASSESSMENT OF MATHEMATICS SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Mathematics assessments play a valuable role in identifying students' strengths and weaknesses and in developing and monitoring instructiona l practice. Over the last century, mathematics assessment has been ref ined as math content has changed as a result of curriculum reform. Tod ay, researchers and practitioners use various assessment techniques to (a) identify students who have mathematics learning disabilities (LD) , (b) target individual strengths and weaknesses across mathematics ar eas, (c) document the effects of mathematics instruction in a remedial or special program, (d) identify strategies that students employ duri ng math activities, (e) conduct research about the characteristics of students with math LD, and (f) examine the technical characteristics o f mathematics tests. This article provides an historical overview of t he development of mathematics assessment and a description of specific strategies for conducting math evaluations.