Assessment of African American Students: A Survey of School Psychologists

1
Assessment of African American Students A
Survey of School Psychologists

• Presenters
• Renée Dawson, Ph.D.
• Jennifer Simmons, M.S., ABSNP
• Diagnostic Center, Northern California

2
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

3
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

4
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
  Peckhams ruling

5
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

6
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

7
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

8
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.

9
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

10
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

11
Disproportionality
12
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?

13
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

14
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

15
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
16
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)

17
The Survey
18

• And the survey said.

19
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 districts
  protocol we received none
• A few respondents attached the Larry P. Task
  Force list of banned tests
• Yes and No responders described similar
  approaches

20
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

21
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)

22
Use of Standardized Intelligence Tests
Yes No
10 AA students 33 67
gt 10 AA students 78 23

• The more AA students a school psychologist
  serves, the more likely s/he is to use
  standardized intelligence tests (p 0.001)

23
Are you generally satisfied with the current
methods you are using to assess African American
students?
Yes No
10 AA students 35 65
gt 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?

24
Do you feel that you get the information you need
with your current procedures?
Yes No
10 AA students 45 55
gt 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)

25
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.

26
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
27
Is there a relationship between using
standardized intelligence tests and satisfaction
among psychologists?
Do use Dont use
Satisfied 62 38
Not satisfied 52 48

• Psychologists who are satisfied are slightly
  more likely to use standardized intelligence
  tests with AA students (p 0.5)

28
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

29
Our challenge

• How do we conduct culturally appropriate
  assessments of African American students without
  using standardized intelligence tests?

30
Work in Progress
Reasoning Flexibility Concept Formation Memory and Learning Planning Generalization
Observations
Interviews
Medical and school records
Work Samples
Informal Tasks
DRAFT
31
Where to find this presentation

• Diagnostic Center Website
• www.dcn-cde.ca.gov
• Professional Development
• 2008 CASP Presentation