Educational Diagnostic Services, in Denver, Colorado

Under the provisions of Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA 2004) and Exceptional Children’s Educational Act (ECEA) all parents have the right to procure an educational/academic evaluation of their child’s current abilities to submit to their child’s school if they have specific concerns regarding their child’s academic performance. In choosing this option, parents and NAVIGATING EDUCATION will work together to understand the target areas of concern, and develop the best course of action for both child and family. Parents are requested to bring student work samples to the initial meeting, at which time either Assessment/Testing or Consultation services will be recommended.

For parents who believe their child is academically advanced, or are not adequately being challenged in their school, an academic performance review can be conducted at NAVIGATING EDUCATION. This entails reviewing student work samples, assessment data given to parents, and meeting with a child. Upon completion of this meeting, either Assessment/Testing or Consultation services will be recommended.

Per Colorado education law, children are required to have their educational progress evaluated in every odd grade level, beginning in 3rd grade. These evaluations can be conducted at NAVIGATING EDUCATION through a portfolio evaluation and/or through formal educational assessment. As an educator with an active license in Colorado, endorsed in the areas of general education, special education, and instruction of children with cultural and linguistic differences, NAVIGATING EDUCATION Founder, Dara Prais, is both certified and highly qualified in the state of Colorado to evaluate a homeschooled child’s academic progress.

To complete a homeschool evaluation, parents choose a portfolio, formal assessment option, or combination of both. In addition to work samples and/or assessment data, both the child(ren) and homeschool parent are interviewed by Dara Prais in order for her to orient to each family’s educational perspective, to better understand the unique needs of each family, understand long term educational goals and aspirations, and to assess a child’s 21st Century competencies.

Academic assessments are also called tests of achievement since they determine what a child is currently able to achieve. These assessments evaluate a child’s reading, writing, and mathematical knowledge. These areas can be evaluated separately or in combination with each other. While some assessment batteries evaluate all three areas, at times it is also necessary to utilize additional assessments targeting specific areas only, to thoroughly understand where a child’s difficulty originates. These assessments are used to identify and educationally diagnose individuals with specific learning disabilities in the area of reading, writing, and/or mathematics.

Behavioral assessments can evaluate a child’s strengths and weakness in the areas of personal/adaptive skills, social skills, emotional functioning, and the degree to which behaviors are being internalizing and/or externalized. In conjunction with targeted cognitive assessments, these results are highly beneficial in identifying attention, hyperactivity, and executive functioning deficits.

Cognitive assessments are also called ability assessments because they aim to quantify one’s cognitive ability. I administer cognitive assessments for the purposes of evaluating general ability, nonverbal intelligence, and potential giftedness, specifically for culturally and linguistically diverse individuals.