Identifying Essential Topics in General and Special Education Introductory Assessment Textbooks

We reviewed the five top‐selling introductory assessment textbooks in both general and special education to identify topics contained in textbooks and to determine the extent of agreement among authors regarding the essentialness of topics within and across discipline. Content analysis across the 10 assessment textbooks yielded 73 topics related to 13 categories: Decisions, Law, Technical Adequacy, Plan Assessment, Create Assessment, Score Assessment, Assessment Target, Assessment Type, Assessment Method, Interpret Assessment, Communicate Assessment Results, Assessment Population, and Computer‐Assisted Assessment. Many of the topics identified were consistent with traditional assessment expectations of general and special education environments, while other, arguably important, topics were not identified as essential. The idea of core assessment topics for all teachers is introduced.