Chapter 6: Ethical and Legal Issues in Psychoeducational Assessment

Question 1

The ecological perspective

Answer 1

• Takes into account the multiple factors that affect learning and behavior, including classroom variables, teacher and instructional variables, characteristics of the referred student, and support available from the home for school achievement
• Vs medical which views learning and behavior problems as a result of within-child disorders.

Question 2

Parent Consent

Answer 2

• Under IDEIA, written consent of the parent is needed for the initial pre‑special education placement eligibility evaluation.
• Parent consent also is required for subsequent reevaluations, unless the school can demonstrate that it has taken reasonable measures to obtain consent and the child’s parent failed to respond.
• Informed consent also is required prior to evaluation to determine whether a child has a disability within the meaning of Section 504/ADAA.
• Parent consent is not required for a review of existing data as part of an evaluation or reevaluation.
• In addition, the screening of a student by a teacher or specialist to determine appropriate instructional strategies for curriculum implementation is not considered to be an evaluation requiring parental consent under IDEIA (e.g., RTI).

Question 3

Over-ride of Parent Refusal to Consent

Answer 3

• Under IDEIA, if the parent fails to provide consent for an initial evaluation of a child with a suspected disability, the school may use mediation and other due process procedures

Question 4

Assessment of Minors

Answer 4

• According to the Standards and consistent with IDEIA, the parent granting permission for the diagnostic evaluation should be made aware of the reasons for the assessment, the type of tests and evaluation procedures to be used, what the assessment results will be used for, and who will have access to the results
• Practitioners should not solicit a child’s assent if refusal will not be honored

Question 5

Five Ethical-Legal Concerns of Assessments

Answer 5

Multifaceted
Comprehensive
Fair
Valid
Useful

Question 6

Multifaceted

Answer 6

Psychoeducational assessment of a child with a suspected disability must be based on a variety of different types of information from different sources. No decisions should be made on the basis of a single test score.

Question 7

Comprehensive

Answer 7

A child with a suspected disability is assessed in all areas related to the suspected disability, including, if appropriate, health, vision, hearing, social and emotional status, general intelligence, academic performance, communicative status, and motor abilities.

Question 8

Fair

Answer 8

In the selection of assessment tools, the psychologist strives to choose the most appropriate instruments and procedures in light of the child’s age, gender, native language, disabilities, and socioeconomic and ethnic background. Must consider:
English language learner
Disabilities
Ethnicity/race/socio-cultural background

Question 9

Valid

Answer 9

School psychologists are obligated to select tests and other evaluation procedures that meet high professional standards and are valid for the purpose for which they are used.

Question 10

Useful

Answer 10

Regulations implementing IDEIA state that assessment tools and strategies must “provide relevant information that directly assists persons in determining the education needs of the child.”

Question 11

NON-BIASED ASSESSMENT

Answer 11

“When interpreting assessment results . . ., psychologists take into account the purpose of the assessment as well as the various test factors, test taking abilities, and other characteristics of the person being assessed, such as situational, personal, linguistic, and cultural differences, that might affect psychologists’ judgments or reduce the accuracy of their interpretations. They indicate any significant limitations of their interpretations. . . .”

Question 12

Diana v. State Board of Education

Answer 12

The first significant court case that required the schools to assess primary language competency prior to the administration of assessment instruments.

Question 13

Parent granting consent for evaluation should be aware of

Answer 13

1. Reasons for assessment
2. types of tests and evaluation procedures
3. What assessment results will be used for
4. Types of records (paper digital) that will be created
5. Who will have access to those records

Question 14

Test Bias

Answer 14

• Evidence that an IQ test yields different mean scores for various ethnic groups is not considered to be adequate evidence of test bias in and of itself
• Content Bias - when it is demonstrated to be relatively more difficult for members of one group than another when the general ability level of the groups being compared is held constant
• Bias in Differential or Predictive Validity - A test may be shown to be nonbiased in criterion‑related validity if it predicts the criterion‑measure performance equally well for children from different ethnic backgrounds.
• Bias in Construct Validity - differing interpretations of a common performance are shown to be appropriate as a function of ethnicity, gender, or another variable of interest