Intro to Nonbiased Assessment of Multicultural Students with LI. 4/1 & 4/3

Question 1

What is language?

Answer 1

A system of symbols used to represent concepts formed through exposure and experience

Question 2

What may differ from mainstream school expectations?

Answer 2

Students’ experiences

Question 3

If teachers refer ELL students for testing, what may there be?

Answer 3

a difference, not disorder, because of experiential differences

Question 4

When do you know a child has a Language Impairment?

Answer 4

when they have a disorder in L1 and English

Question 5

What are the 4 quadrants in the “diagnostic pie”? PAGE 246

Answer 5

• Quadrant 1: Normal ability, adequate background. May need one or more of the following:
  
  1. Bilingual education
  2. Sheltered English
  3. Instruction in English as a second language
• Quadrant 2: Normal ability, limitations of linguistic experience, environmental exposure. May need one or more of the following:
  
  1. Bilingual education
  2. Sheltered English
  3. Instruction in English as a second language
  4. Additional enrichment experiences (tutoring, RtI, etc)
• Quadrant 3: LI, adequate background. May need:
  
  1. Bilingual special education
  2. English special education with as much primary language input and teaching as possible
• Quadrant 4: LI limitations of linguistic experience, environmental exposure. May need:
  
  1. Bilingual special education
  2. English special education with primary language support
  3. Additional enrichment experiences

**WE ONLY SEE KIDS IN QUADRANTS 3&4

Question 6

What did Dr. Ron Gillam (CSHA) say about identifying children for IEPs?

Answer 6

-We are WAY over identifying ELL kindergarteners for IEPs

-

Question 7

How did Dr. Ron Gillam (CSHA) conduct his study when examining ELL students?

Answer 7

• Assessed Spanish speaking Kindergarteners at beginning and end of kindergarten (english and Spanish)
• of 167 “At risk” at beginning of kindergarten, only 21 really needed IEPs at end of Kindergarten

Question 8

What are indicators of a Language Impairment?

Answer 8

• Compared to SIMILAR PEERS, Language impaired kids learn slowly in L1 and L2
• Communication problems at home and/or with similar peers
• Slower development than siblings (of same gender)
• Need for lots of prompting & repetition during instruction
• Pragmatics, Syntactic, Semantic problems in L1
• Delayed language developmental milestones in L1

Question 9

What does IDEA 2004 mandate?

Answer 9

• we must evaluate in nondiscriminatory manner
• Tests must be administered in most proficient communication mode
• Testing cannot reflect limited English; must reflect child’s ability in area tested

Question 10

What does IDEA not require? Traditionally what have many special educators used?

Answer 10

• The IDEA does not require that standardized measures are used
• Traditionally, many special educators have used standardized tests because they believe that a quantitative score is mandated by federal law; however, the law does not exclude subjective or qualitative measures. It leaves the choice of measurement tools and criteria to the educator.

Question 11

What has IDEA 2004 eliminated?

Answer 11

the need for IQ performance discrepancy was eliminated **

Question 12

Through IDEA, what has there been an increased focus on?

Answer 12

early intervention

Question 13

What does IDEA (2004) not specify, in fact, what does it say?

Answer 13

• IDEA (2004) does not specify use of either formal or informal tools for assessment
• SAYS: use a variety of assessment tools, and that determination of disability should not rely on a single measure or test

Question 14

In the pre-evaluation process, before doing the formal testing, what is it extremely important to do?

Answer 14

1. language proficiency testing
2. Ethnographic interviewing and case history
3. Teacher evaluation of student’s classroom performance

Question 15

In language proficiency testing, what do they determine and what do they do?

Answer 15

• Primary language?
• Dominant language?
• interview parents, teachers, interpreters who have worked with the student
• use language measures (In california they use the CELDT-California English Language Development test)
• Ask regarding oral and written skills in both languages

Question 16

Why must we be careful of the label “English Proficient”?

Answer 16

• usually means adequate ORAL English skills (CILF)
• However, Children still may not be able to read and write adequately in English and take standardized tests competently

Question 17

What are problems when testing in the primary language?

Answer 17

Problem: Great heterogeneity within languages (dialects)

Problem: limited data on normal development in other languages

Problem: Differences in vocabulary and linguistic knowledge bases of students who immigrate vs. those born and raised in U.S.

Question 18

What is a problem in the spanish version of mosts tests?

Answer 18

• they fail to consider dialectal differences

- Many are normed on monolingual Spanish speaking children

Question 19

What are we NEVER allowed to do?

Answer 19

translate an English test into the child’s L1 and use the norms

Question 20

Why are we NEVER allowed to translate an English test into the Child’s L1?

Answer 20

• Normative data is invalid

- ELL students has different life background experiences than norming sample

Question 21

What are some things to consider when selecting assessment instruments?

Answer 21

• Appropriateness of test content (many potentially unfamiliar items)
• Adequacy of norms
• possible examiner bias
• Possible situational bias
• possible format bias
• possible value bias

Question 22

what is situational bias?

Answer 22

• children may have a way of communicating that is different from mainstream norms (e.g., don’t look adult in the eye, don’t initiate conversation)
• some children come from backgrounds where verbal elaboration is not encouraged

Question 23

Give an example of Possible format bias

Answer 23

some children, at home, are rarely asked known-information questions (e.g., about pictures that both speaker and listener can see)

Question 24

What did Anderson-Yockel & Haynes find about African American mothers and asking questions?

Answer 24

African American mothers asked their children fewer yes-no and wh-questions during a reading task than white mothers

Question 25

What may ELL children have differences in?

Answer 25

• socialization practices or early literacy experiences

- for example, labeling or pointing to objects may not be a typical experience for Hispanic children

Question 26

What is an example of value bias?

Answer 26

example: Test of problem-solving skills-revised “What should she do now?”

Preschool language scale–“Why do you brush your teeth?” African American children in some communities “Because my momma told me to.” (Scored as incorrect; correct answer is “because you get cavities if you don’t”)

Question 27

t/f

Standardized, formal tests are commonly used with ELL students?

Answer 27

true

Question 28

t/f

Many speech-language pathologists and other special educators operate from the belief that we must always obtain quantitative data such as percentile ranks and standard deviations

Answer 28

True

Question 29

What are the pitfalls of using standardized tests with ELL students?

Answer 29

• There are very few standardized tests in most languages

- Most standardized tests are developed from a Western, literate, middle class framework

Question 30

What do standardized tests for ELL students assume?

Answer 30

• The student will cooperate to the best of their ability
• They will attempt to respond even when test tasks don’t make sense
• They understand and successfully perform artificial, potentially unfamiliar tasks such as fill-in-the-blanks
• Have been exposed to the information and experiences assumed by the test
• Be comfortable with an unfamiliar adult and willing to talk with him or her readily
• Be proficient in verbal display of knowledge

Question 31

How are standardized testing bias?

Answer 31

Through unfamiliar items such as:

• household objects
• vehicles
• sports
• musical instruments
• types of clothing
• professions/occupations
• historically related events and people
• foods
• American nursery rhymes
• Geography
• Games
• American fruits and vegetables
• items involving snow (many immigrant and refugee students won’t know this)

Question 32

How can we modify standardized tests?

Answer 32

• Instructions in L1 and English
• Rephrase confusing instructions
• Give extra examples, demos
• Give the student extra time to respond
• If the student gives a “wrong” answer, ask her to explain it and record her explanation; score it as correct if it would be correct in her culture
• Repeat items when necessary
• Omit biased items student will probably miss
• Test beyond ceiling
• Complete assessment in several sessions
• count, as correct, answers in either language (dual scoring system; conceptual scoring)

Question 33

What are some considerations in test interpretation?

Answer 33

• Don’t identify a student based solely on formal test scores
• ascertain if the student’s errors are typical of other students with similar backgrounds
• interpret overall results as a team
• In assessment reports, include disclaimers about departure from standard testing procedures

Question 34

How do we interpret test results for ELL?

Answer 34

• Always do this as a team
• in your diagnostic report, be sure to describe how you altered administration of tests
• Review results with family member and others from the culture– and ask, are these result typical?