Description
Presenter: Jeffery P. Braden, PhD
Overview.
This seminar will explore how psychologists should (and should not) use of tests of academic achievement with students who are culturally and linguistically diverse. Issues of test content, purpose (e.g., screening vs. diagnosis), bias, and fairness will be discussed for major standardized tests and approaches to measuring academic achievement. Although the available evidence suggests that achievement tests are not biased when used with students whose primary language is English, the evidence suggests that how tests are applied (i.e., fairness), and their use with students whose primary language is not English, may harm students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. We will consider strategies to enhance student outcomes and minimize unintended (i.e., harmful) effects for psychologists who use academic achievement tests with students who are culturally and linguistically diverse.
Objectives.
- Provide an overview of current research regarding the accuracy of standardized tests of achievement applied to culturally and linguistically diverse populations.
- Define opportunity to learn (OTL) and explain how it interacts with culture and language.
- Explain how tests of achievement may either promote or restrict OTL for culturally and linguistically diverse students.
- Distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate definitions of cultural and linguistic biasin achievement tests.
About the Presenter.
Jeff Braden is Professor of Psychology at North Carolina State University. He has directed school psychology programs at NC State, University of Wisconsin—Madison, San Jose State, and the University of Florida. Jeff has presented more than 300 papers at state, national, and international meetings and published more than 160 articles, books, book chapters, and other products on assessment, school psychology, intelligence, and deafness. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, and has chaired their Committee on Psychological Tests and Assessments. Jeff is also a member of the Society for the Study of School Psychology. He has conducted research with the Research Institute for Secondary Education Reform (RISER) for youth with disabilities, studied the treatment utility of assessment for educational consultation, conducted local (evaluated NCDPI’s problem‐solving model) and international research, and provided keynote addresses in New South Wales, Australia; Dublin, Ireland; Limassol, Cyprus (to 29 European countries); and as a Fulbright Scholar in Athens, Greece. Jeff also served as dean of the college of humanities and social sciences at NC State from 2008‐2021. His latest project is a special issue in the Journal of School Psychology devoted to report preregistration and replications.
CE Information
1 hour of CE
Cost
FREE
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