This scale not only provides information about students' levels of self-determination but could help build those skills. The Likert scale at the beginning provides a baseline for how skilled a student is in self-determination. The following exercises, in particular the story section, to me at least, promote serious analysis about problem solving. I think these sections could even be done in a group format, where everyone brainstorms about how best to reach the "happy" endings. Students with limited insight could be helped to find good solutions to everyday problems, which hopefully would then transfer into their ability to better handle real events in their lives.

This test is not limited to but better directed to a student or a group of students with a lower cognitive ability.

Section one provides an overview of the students abilities, limitations, interest, and level of independence.

Section two, is very interesting. In this section, the student is provided with the beginning of an everyday life situation (problem). The section also provides what should be the ending or the outcome of the situation. It is the student's job to come up with the middle part of the story, which requires problem solving skills in social situations.

Section three, provides the student with the opportunity to reflect on their own psychological empowerment.

The last section, four, provides the student with questions on self-realization.

With the exception of the problem solving questions, all others only require agree/don't agree boxes.

At the end of the test, there is a good, easy overview scoring guide for each section.

A.Grimm

The Arc appears to give good information about a students strengths and needs in the area of self-determination. I like that the scale provides rating scale questions, as well as, written questions. The written questions were unique in that they provided scenarios for the student to respond to how they would handle given situations. This would provide an insight to a students self-determination skills from another angle. I wish The Arc provided an expanded user guide for interpretation of the results and suggestions for how to use the information obtained to help students progress in their self-determination skills. I plan to add The Arc to the assessment choices at my school.

I would have liked to give only 31/2 stars, but the rating scale wouldn't allow for it. My reasons for that are only because I have not given this assessment to actually score it and see the final outcome on a given student. I can only assume what it will do based on the questions that I see. This is why I did rate on the high end of things. I did like the range of questions asked and the fact that there was written responses in additional to the "checklist" style of answers. I think that it looked fairly easy to score, but again I say that without actaully going through the process. I think it gives a wide variety of areas to be assessed so I think that this will be a vefair and versitile, informal assessment tool.

I thought this was a good survey that would help provide insight into how a student sees themself interacting in their world currently and also in the future. It's a long assessment but it's broken down into four sections (Autonomy, Self-Regulation, Psychological Empowerment, and Self-Realization) so you could easily administer this over several periods. At first glance, the survey could be intimidating to some students but once explained it's fairly straight forward and has a nice balance between written responses and 'checked' answers. I have not administered this assessment, but it does appear to be challenging to score but what is nice is that it will create a bar graph that will show percentiles. I think this would be a great opportunity to sit down with the student and look at the graph together and determine what areas have the greatest need. This would be the perfect way to have a student get involved in helping to create their own goals.

I have never used this assessment before however in reviewing the complete book i believe that i will began using this assessment with my students. This assessment' s language appears very readable and understandable for my students. The assessment is not that long and easy to calculate the results into the scale. I will definitely use this with my students in determining thier self - determination and increasing it if they lack it. Honestly, i will test it out first on my husband and see how well he does in the area of self-determination.

I had the wonderful privilege of having several of my students participate in Dr. Wehmeyer's study as he was developing this instrument. The study lasted 3 years and I ended up using it with several others in my class. I loved this assessment and have it included in my two schools Transition Assessment Tool Boxes. Self-determination is so important and this assessment does a great job assessing problem solving, goal setting and self-determination. I found it to be user friendly and the students enjoy using it. I was never terribly fond of the story completion part of this tool but I believe this is because the students in the study were primarily non readers and found this to be difficult. Michael Wehmeyer has many excellent resources available on the Internet and I have used them all. It has caused me to become a better teacher.

The ARC is broken down into four sections Autonomy, Self-Regulation, Psychological Empowerment, and Self-Realization. I like that the scale at the beginning makes a good baseline. It is good that there are both written answers and questions with check boxes for answers. The variation of response types help keep students more engaged than just written answers. The four different sections provides an easy way to break up the assessment into different administrations, if needed. I also like the graphs at the end. They are a good way to have a visual representation to talk about goal setting with the student. Scoring this assessment was tedious and took me a long time. Maybe it will get easier the more I use it but currently the scoring took a long time.

Arc Self-Determaination Scale section one provides assessment of the students independence skills, how they relate to society and peers, their interest and abilites , post-school goals. Section 2 deals with filling in the middle section of a story. This is a great way to se how they se the outcome of certain situations. This assessment is easy for students and parents to understand. This will be a concrete assesment for my average functioning students to grasp.

This is my favorite self-determination assessment scale. I do it with all of my students. I find that it is easy to use and works great with a group. When the student is finished, the results clearly identify areas of strengths and weaknesses. The questions are easy for the students to understand and it is an assessment they can take and feel good about taking. It is also easy to go over the results with the students. The tables are easy for them to read and understand. Sometimes they aren't as clear about what each section means, but it is easy to break it down for them. While administering, I have found that the students give even more information as they are answering questions.

I have never used this assessment before but it looks like it would be a great tool to assess a student's self-determination skills. This specific assessment is broken down into four different sections consisting of checking the correct answer that describes the student and completing a few writing samples. I definitely will be using this assessment for a few of my students. The only thing that I am skeptical about is the scoring. It kind of looks and sounds a little complicated, but I am sure that after scoring a few of these assessments I will get the hang of it.

This looks like a very complete assessment dealing with students and how they perceive themselves and participants in the work force. It is by far the most complete assessment and gives the most information. i like that it addresses autonomy and independence. In this way I feel that it would give an excellent idea of a student's present level of functioning in a variety of settings.

I have not used this assessment so I do not know if it would be easy to score or not.

After reviewing this assessment tool on this website I am anxious to add it to my file of transition information and to put it to use. I particularly like the answer scale which, to me, is more accurate and realistic than a "never, almost never, sometimes..." description. This also opens the door for a conversation about participating in an activity that is within the student's control or if it is only performed under supervision. I appreciated the note in the instructions which acknowledged the possible presence of a care-giver or companion and how that might influence an answer.

The story-completions regarding problem solving were a new format to me and I look forward to using them to get a different slant on a student's thought processes and ability to self-advocate. They require the student to think about their answers and while there is always the possibility of giving a practiced response, there is room for reflection while answering and while discussing results with others.