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Transcript of Assessment of African American Students: A Survey of School Psychologists Presenters: Renée Dawson,...
Assessment of African American Students:
A Survey of School Psychologists
Presenters:Renée Dawson, Ph.D.
Jennifer Simmons, M.S., ABSNPDiagnostic Center, Northern California
Diagnostic Center Team
Mary Anne Nielsen, Director Renée Dawson, Ph.D., Assistant Director Phoebe Howard, School Psychologist Laurie Berberian, School Psychologist Jennifer Simmons, School Psychologist Marji Stivers, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist
Purpose of Survey The Diagnostic Center team surveyed school
psychologists in Northern California to determine the following:
• What tools and methods they use to assess African American (AA) students
• Whether or not they are satisfied with these methods
• Whether or not they believe current methods adequately assess AA students
Part of a larger endeavor to improve our assessment practices for AA students at the Diagnostic Center
History of Larry P. v. Riles
Diana v. State Board of Education (1970)
1971-72 Class Action suit on behalf of “minority children” who were overrepresented in EMR classes
1975 State voluntarily placed a “moratorium on IQ testing” for placement in EMR
1979 Judge Peckham ruled standardized intelligence tests “are racially and culturally biased…” (ban on IQ testing for placement in EMR)
1984 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Peckham’s ruling
History of Larry P. v. Riles
1986 CA issued a directive to ban IQ testing of AA students for placement in all special education programs
1986 Larry P. Task Force issued general guidelines for assessment
1992 Superintendent of Education, Bill Honig issued directive reconfirming the 1979 decision
1997 Memorandum from the Department of Education reinforced the 1979 Larry P. Court decision, supported Larry P. Task Force guidelines, and listed prohibited tests based on the 1979 decision
Larry P. Task ForceRecommendations, 1989
Outlined general procedures and suggestions for assessment and consideration of AA students for special education:
Become familiar with student background and culture
Use of consultation-intervention model
Establish well defined procedures and documentation for referrals
Examine for, request, and develop representative norms for tests
Larry P. Task ForceRecommendations, 1989
Recommendations continued:
Employ alternative means of assessment; include personal history and development, adaptive behavior, classroom performance, variety of academic assessments, task analysis, learning processes and “learning potential”
Use of more professional judgment to determine discrepancy
Psychologists should meet and collaborate to establish guidelines and assessment procedures
Actual Outcome
“Unfortunately, more attention seems to have been paid to which tests the Task Force
prohibited than to the complex issues about educational equity they raised.”
Powers, K., Hagans-Murillo, K., Restori, A.
Disproportionality
Using CDE database for 2005-06 AA students represent 7.8% of the public
school enrollment and 11.5% of special education students
European American (EA) students represent 30.3% of the public school enrollment and they represent 34.8% of special education students
Consistent trend across the nation
Disproportionality
Using CDE database for 2006-07 AA students represent 7.6% of the public
school enrollment and 16.2% of special education students
European American (EA) students represent 29.4% of the public school enrollment and they represent 12.4% of special education students
Consistent trend across the nation
0.00%5.00%
10.00%15.00%20.00%25.00%30.00%35.00%
GenEd
SpEd
2005-2006
AA childrenEA children
0.00%5.00%
10.00%15.00%20.00%25.00%30.00%35.00%
GenEd
SpEd
2006-2007
AA childrenEA children
Disproportionality
Discrepancy Model Dilemma
Historically, school psychologists have been required to establish eligibility for Specific Learning Disability based on a discrepancy between ability and achievement
Most districts approach this as a mathematical equation
How can a psychologist establish a discrepancy without getting an ability score?
School Psychologist Survey
Survey was conducted during the 2005-06 school year
Sent to school psychologists in 345 school districts in our Northern California service area
404 surveys returned
Profile of Respondents
50% of survey respondents serve up to 10% AA students
50% of survey respondents serve between 10% and 100% AA students
Roughly representative of the school population in Northern California
Selection of two groups based on the response to the following question:
What percentage of the students you assess is African American?
0-10%
10-20%
20-30%
30-40%
40-50%
50-60%
60-70%
70-100
50% 12% 10% 6% 3% 6% 5% 7%
Percentages do not total 100 due to surveys with no response to this question
Limitations of the Survey
Problems with two-sided survey
Problems with unclear wording
Forced choice did not work for everybody
Similar comments made for yes and no responses (required us to do some interpretation)
The Survey
And the survey said….
Does your district have a standard protocol for assessing AA students?
71% of respondents reported that their districts did not have a standard protocol
We asked respondents to attach their district’s protocol; we received none
A few respondents attached the Larry P. Task Force list of banned tests
“Yes” and “No” responders described similar approaches
Spirit of Larry P.
“Standardized intelligence test” in the context of our survey means:
Concurrent validity with WISC tests
Composite score measuring global ability
Inclusion of acquired knowledge
Group differences
Cognition, intelligence, ability considered interchangeable terms
What formal and informal assessment measures and procedures do you use to determine special education eligibility for AA students?
260 of the 404 surveys (64.4%) list one or more standardized intelligence/cognitive ability tests (e.g., DAS, UNIT)
Use of Standardized Intelligence Tests
The more AA students a school psychologist serves, the more likely s/he is to use standardized intelligence tests (p ≤ 0.001)
Yes No
≤ 10%AA students
33% 67%
> 10%AA students
78% 23%
Are you generally satisfied with the current methods you are using to assess African American students?
Yes No
≤ 10%AA students
35% 65%
> 10%AA students
50% 50%
Respondents serving fewer AA students were more likely to report dissatisfaction (p ≤ 0.01)
Dissatisfaction was high in both groups Potential Factors: Extent of experience or exposure? Cognitive
dissonance? Availability of test materials?
Do you feel that you get the information you need with your current procedures?
Yes No
≤ 10%AA students
45% 55%
> 10%AA students
59% 41%
Respondents serving more AA students were more likely to report that they get the information that they need (p ≤ 0.01)
Are there areas of functioning that you feel unable to assess adequately with your current procedures?
Because the wording of the question did not specify the functioning of African American students, some responders answered in more general terms. For example, several responders mentioned inadequacies in assessing second language learners. These responses were not included.
Areas of Inadequacy
Area %
Cognition/Reasoning 54
Processing 17
Verbal Functioning 11
Benefits of a comprehensive battery 9
Social-emotional functioning 3
Effects of economic/cultural influences 3
Access to test materials 2
Adaptive behavior 0.6
Is there a relationship between using standardized intelligence tests and satisfaction among
psychologists?
Psychologists who are satisfied are slightly more likely to use standardized intelligence tests with AA students (p ≤ 0.5)
Do use Don’t use
Satisfied 62% 38%
Not satisfied 52% 48%
Conclusions Overrepresentation of AA students in special
education persists despite the Larry P. mandate School psychologists surveyed are not given
guidelines by their districts Widespread use of standardized intelligence tests
with AA students continues in Northern California Over 50% of school psychologists surveyed are
not satisfied with the status quo for assessing AA students
Our challenge
How do we conduct culturally appropriate assessments of African
American students without using standardized intelligence tests?
Work in ProgressReasoning Flexibility Concept
FormationMemory
and Learning
Planning Generalization
Observations
Interviews
Medical and school records
Work Samples
Informal Tasks
Where to find this presentation
Diagnostic Center Website:
www.dcn-cde.ca.govProfessional Development
2008 CASP Presentation