Process assessment of intelligence in learning disabled and mentally retarded children: A multidirectional model

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Abstract
This article unifies a diversity of isolated research in order to provide a theoretical framework for process assessment. A process assessment model is presented that focuses on learning disabled and mildly retarded children's intelligent task performance. The model is theoretically based on the experimental findings of Brown and Campione (1978), Butterfield (1981), Newell and Simon (1972) and Sternberg (1977, 1983) to name a few. Five cognitive planes are proposed that assess: (a) the relationship between strategy and overall performance; (b) the knowledge base that influences strategy development; (c) the ability to coordinate, direct, and organize search strategies; (d) the metacognitive parameters of learning and performance; and (e) the abstracting of problem‐solving strategies. Within each plane, different components for assessment are presented. The model suggests that intelligent behavior may develop independently or within different planes and such performance may be characterized as “opportunistic.”; The article presents an account of child problem solving and illustrates its underlying assumptions with a “thinking aloud”; protocol. The educational implications of the model are discussed.