Discusses historical and contemporary influences on changes in special education assessment, emphasizing three persistent themes: accurate classification, fairness to minority students, and special education outcomes. Dunn's contributions to each theme are discussed, along with other influences such as legislation and litigation. Current dynamics…

Overrepresentation of minorities in special education classes and bias in IQ tests that allegedly underlies such placements are discussed in regard to the use of psychological tests for educational classification. Concludes that the use of tests, rather than the tests themselves, leads to discriminatory placement. Suggests solutions to this…

Recommendations from "Placing Children in Special Education" are reviewed, focusing on: (1) inaccurate interpretation of overrepresentation of minority mildly mentally retarded students, (2) use of prereferral interventions, (3) cross-categorical programing, (4) application of an outcomes criterion, and (5) expansion of regular education…

In examining the issue of overrepresentation of minority students in special education, this article distinguishes between the percentage of category or program by group and percentage of group in category or program, which provide very different perspectives. Caution in interpreting data from the Office of Civil Rights relating "race/ethnicity"…

Questions educational relevance of direct measures of learning such as the Learning Potential Assessment Device, assessment of biomedical factors, and adaptative behavior measures. Notes increased discrepancies between EMR and average students in high school. Suggests a generic classification for the mildly handicapped and the combining of groups…