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Special Education Resources

Schools and community organizations trust BRIGANCE for research-based materials that save teachers time while meeting IDEA compliance expectations and the needs of exceptional children.

Get the Special Education Sampler

Curriculum Associates is proud of our legacy in publishing assessments, resources, and lesson plans that meet the personalized learning needs of students in special education.

Albert H. Brigance had a place deep in his heart for his special education students. When he began his career as a school psychologist in the 1970s, he noticed that testing tended to undervalue his students’ unique development trajectories and instead emphasized what they didn’t know and couldn’t do. He envisioned a more inclusive array of assessments for developmental and academic skills to reveal what students did know and could do. This idea evolved into the BRIGANCE family of products and continues to inform our belief that every student deserves high expectations, an accurate picture of their progress, and meaningful next steps.

BRIGANCE Special Education materials consist of teacher-facilitated activities and assessments for monitoring individuals' progress in key developmental domains, academic skills, and transitional supports that can be used with children based on their developmental levels and chronological ages. Our in-depth resources assist professionals with writing accurate and meaningful IEPs for developing the skills students need to thrive from birth to adulthood.

Early Academic Skills (Literacy, Mathematics, Science)
Physical, Language, and Cognitive Development
Social and Emotional Development
Daily Living and Self-Help Skills
Self-Determination Skills
Financial Literacy and Job-Seeking Skills
Life Skills and Community Engagement

Program Features

Criterion-Referenced Inventories

BRIGANCE Special Education programs include criterion-referenced assessments. These measure a student’s performance on a specified set of skills over time. Educators use criterion-referenced assessment when progress is to be evaluated solely by comparing a student’s own present and past performance. It is commonly used when normative, or standardized, scores are not necessary.

Transition Skills for Ages 14–21

Our Transition Skills programs help each individual build their pathway to adulthood with the skills they need to integrate successfully in their communities. This includes a full array of assessments for preparing for life after high school and digital resources with teacher-facilitated transition activities.

Used by middle school, junior high school, high school, and post-secondary organizations, these materials are designed with student agency in mind. Educators love the point-of-use support for goal writing and differentiation.

Early Developmental Skills

Our early development programs are available in two versions, depending on the chronological ages of the children.

The Criterion-Referenced edition is designed to measure progress on skills associated with developmental ages birth through age 7 years and allows for flexibility in administration to monitor behaviors and skills progress for learners of any age.

The Norm-Referenced (Standardized) edition is specifically for children under age 7 years. This version streamlines assessment and provides standardized scores across key developmental domains aligned to child outcomes and national standards.

Comprehensive Inventory of Basic Skills

While supplies last, educators can order the Criterion-Referenced CIBS II Record Books and Teacher Manuals. The CIBS II Criterion assessment is intended for special education students in Grades K–9 where the educator is tracking incremental skill progress and setting goals over time without a scoring component. For braille implementations of the CIBS II, please contact the American Printing House for the Blind.