CAS 310 Exam 1

@@Assessment Domains@@

Cognition

Socio-Emotional Skills

Academics

Family Environment

Test

A measurement device or technique used to quantify behavior or aid in the understanding and prediction of behavior.

%%Psychological Test (or Educational test)%%

Is a set of items that are designed to measure characteristics of human beings that pertain to behavior.

^^Items^^

A specific stimulus to which a person responds overtly; this respond can be scored or evaluated. ( that is, the specific questions on a test)

@@Measurement@@

A set of rules for assigning numbers to represent attributes or behaviors.

Individual Test

A test that can only be given to one person at a time.

%%Group Test%%

A test that can be administered to more than one person at a time.

^^Test Administrator^^

The person giving the test.

@@Psychometrician@@

The specialist who develops and evaluates tests.

People Who Use Tests

Ex: Psychologists, counselors, employers, states, licensing, teachers.

%%People Who Take Tests%%

All of us! Pretty much everyone!

^^Achievement (Human Ability)^^

**Part of Previous learning.**

\
Ex: A math achievement test will measure concepts already learned in math class.

@@Aptitude (Human Ability)@@

**Focuses on Potential for learning**

\
Ex: A math aptitude test will measure potential for math skills given education and experience.

Intelligence (Human Ability)

A person’s general potential to solve problems, adapt to changing circumstance, think abstractly, and profit from experience.

%%Norm- Referenced Scores (Types of test scores)%%

**Scores of a child are compared to the performance of others.**

\
* Provides relative ranking (percentile)

Ex: IQ test, adaptive behaviors

^^Criterion- Referenced Scores (Types of test Scores)^^

**Scores of a child’s performance are compared to pre-defined standard(s).**

\
* Used to evaluate content knowledge or mastery (often pass/fail).

Ex: Multiplication facts quiz: Need 95% to “Pass”; high school exit exams; driver’s license test.

@@Defining Features of Norm-Referenced Tests@@

1. Standardization procedures
2. Sample of behavior
3. Scores or Categories
4. Norms or Standards
5. Prediction of non-test behavior

Standardization Procedures

Administration procedures are uniform from one **examiner** and **setting** to another.

%%Sample of behavior%%

**A test is only ever a sample of behavior.**

\
* because of factors such as time constraints and environmental/ contextual constraints.

^^Scores or Categories^^

Test results in one of more scores, or provide evidence that a person belongs to one category or another.

@@Norms@@

A summary of test results for a large representative group of subjects.

Standardization sample

A large group representative of the test population.

%%Prediction of non-test behavior%%

Ultimate purpose of a test: To predict/understand additional behaviors.

(Use of social skills inventory)

^^What are the 5 methods of assessment?^^

1. Direct Individual Testing
2. Group Testing
3. Report (Questionnaire/Interview)
4. Observation
5. Alternative

@@Direct Individual Testing@@

**Using measures to DIRECTLY test and observe specific skills and behaviors.**

\
* Ex: Individual intelligence (IQ) tests, Academic Achievement, Emotional processing, perspective taking.
* **Examiner Effects:** Assessor can knowingly/ unknowingly influence the responses;

importance of standardized administration

Group Testing

**Involves direct testing in a GROUP format.**

\
* Can include assessment of “aptitude” (like the SAT) and tests of achievement \[e.g., standardized achievement measures, classroom tests.

%%Report%%

**Involves asking individuals to REPORT on skills or behaviors using questionnaires or interviews.**

\
* Can be self-, parent-, teacher-, or other report.
* Interviews help determine the nature and extent of problems. (can be conducted with the child, parent, teacher, etc. Can be formal/highly structured or informal)

\

@@Observation@@

**`Observation of Skills or behaviors using**

\
Includes:

* Problem-solving, language use, communication
* Emotional expression & regulation
* Social skills and behaviors during interactions.

Qualitative (type of observation)

* Typically occurs in natural settings
* Emphasis on patterns or themes in the material
* Often involves collection of detailed information on a few people (ex: case studies)

Quantitative (type of observation)

* Focus on specific behaviors that \n can be quantified and recorded
* Emphasizes turning information \n into numerical data, which is \n then analyzed using statistics
* Usually involves larger samples

Naturalistic Observation

* Observation in a natural setting \n (home, school, park, etc.)
* Typically conducted over a period \n of time or in a series of separate \n observations

Structured Observation

* Observation in a controlled \n environment
* Usually in laboratory setting or a highly \n structured task in a natural \n environment

Running Records

**Continuous observation and factual recording of behavior**

* Ex: clip and record, timed reading passage

Tally Even Sampling

Used to determine the frequency of behavior

* Ex: Recode a tally each time behavior occurs (no context)

ABC Record

Focus on a target behavior

* Records **A**ntecedent (what happens before the behavior), **B**ehavior, and **C**onsequence ( what happens after the behavior.

Checklists

**A list of behaviors, skills, or characteristics that are identified as present or absent.**

* Limited to items on the list, and have no emphasis on context.

Rating Scales

**Assess the quality of behaviors, characteristics, skills, or interactions based on a pre-determined criteria.**

* Used to evaluate frequency, intensity, or both

Rosenthal effect

The tendency for results to be influences by what experimenters or test administrators expect to finds.

Testing Issues to Consider

* The relationship between the \n examiner and the test taker
* Stereotype threat
* The language of the test taker
* Training of test administrators
* Expectancy effects
* Effects of reinforcing responses
* Computer-assisted administration
* Mode of administration
* Subject variables

Earliest forms of testing – where and what?

Where: In China

What: Chinese emperor had office officials examined every 3rd year to determine their fitness for office.

\

Physiognomy

**Assessment of a person’s character** \n **based on their outward appearance.**

\
(Johann Lavater (1741-1801 C.E.): Essays \n on Physiognomy (Germany))

Phrenology

Measuring “bumps” on the head (skull conforms to the shape of the brain)

(Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828))

* Popularized in US and Great \n Britain by Johann Spurzheim
* 1931: Henry C. Lavery
developed psychograph, a
helmet-like device to measure 32
mental faculties, rated from 1
(deficient) to 5 (very superior)

Treatment of people with intellectual disabilities during the nineteenth century

People with disabilities were seen as and treated:

* “Idiots” and the “Feeble Minded”
* Institutionalization \n Treating criminality, juvenile delinquency, physical illness, deafness, blindness, and idiocy

19the century continued

“Idiocy” attributed to many different causes \n - 1840’s and 50’s – sin, intermarriage, the hereditary transmission of certain tendencies, lust, tuberculosis, alcohol abuse/inebriation, masturbation \n -1860’s – Down: Association between physical deformities and ethnic characteristics (“Mongoloidism”)

Esquirol (1772-1840)

**First to formalize the difference between** \n **intellectual disability (ID; previously referred to as mental retardation) and mental illness**

* Mental retardation – lifelong \n developmental condition; incurable
* Mental illness – onset in adulthood; might \n show improvement

*Galton*

**Considered the founder of mental tests.**

\
* first to have a lab that collected larger-scale, systematic data on individual differences

Catell

Responsible for spreading the testing movement and first to use term mental tests

Wissler

Cattell’s student who discredited his work; Found sensory-motor measures did not correlate with academic achievement;

Ended the use of brass instruments to measure intellectual abilities

The Eugenics Movement (What was it)

* The idea that Physical, mental, and moral deficiencies were the result of hereditary factors passed down within families from \n generation-to-generation
* Several stories of families with “bad” \n heritable traits formed the basis of legal \n cases involving “eugenic marriage” and \n sterilization
* Laws enacted throughout the country \n between the late 1800s and the 1920s to \n prevent the transmission of “defective” \n conditions
* \n 1873 - Term “Eugenics” coined – “The science of good birth”

==**Henry Goddard**== (Eugenics (Ethical Abuses))

* Advocated for forced sterilization of individuals with moderate to profound intellectual disability (ID)
* Suggested case-by-case evaluation of
individuals with mild ID to look for desirable
physical characteristics
* Linked ID with criminality
* Administered intelligence testing at Ellis Island

The Standford- Binet (1916:==**Lewis Terman**==**)**

* Considered :Father of gifted education
* American psychologist and eugenicist
* Member of the Human Betterment \n Foundation
* President of APA
* The Genetic Studies of Genius: Longest \n running longitudinal study of children \n with high IQs (began in 1921; n=1500)

Sterilization and Buck V. Bell (1927)

"It is better for all the world, if instead of \n waiting to execute degenerate offspring \n for crime, or to let them starve for their \n imbecility, society can prevent those who \n are manifestly unfit from continuing their \n kind. The principle that sustains \n compulsory vaccination is broad enough \n to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes. Three \n generations of imbeciles are enough." Supreme Court Justice

Ethical Abuses: Eugenics

* Forced sterilization continued \n in the United States until 1979
* Affilated with the Nazi Party
* There are remnants of this \n philosophy even today

First IQ Test

* 1905: Binet-Simon Tests in \n France
* 1908:1908: Henry Goddard in \n America \n -Translates Binet-Simon \n measurement scales \n -Disseminates to American \n educators and psychologists

**Leta S. Hollingworth** (clinical research psychologist and educator)

* Believed education and opportunity played a role in developing a gifted student (not just hereditary)
* Used IQ testing to study and work with children with ”genius” IQ levels (>140)
* 1922: Special Opportunity Class at P. S. 165 in New York City
* 1926: Gifted Child: Their Nature and Nurture (first textbook on gifted education)
* ≈40 research articles on gifted children
* 1936: P. S. 500, the Speyer School (closed in ‘41, but lead to development of GTE in NYCPS)

1971: WW1 Military Intelligence Testing

* Army Alpha and Army Beta Tests: Aptitude \n tests to screen men for military service \n -Alpha: Verbal test for the literate \n -Beta: Nonverbal test for the illiterate
* Given to over 1 million recruits
* Legitimized IQ testing

John Dewey (progressive era)

* All children should have access to the same education, education should focus on real life experiences and the interests of the child, and schools should be models of democracy.

Charles Eliot (progressive era)

* Curricula should be set and divided among tracks and school should serve to build an efficient and organized society
* IQ testing to place students on tracks

Progressive Era (1890-1930)

* Compulsory education laws enacted (all states by 1918)
* “Feeble minded,” “mentally deficient,” exhibited behavioral or physical traits that were “disturbing” or “sickening” to others, or who were deemed “unable” to benefit from schooling were often expelled from school.
* For those special needs students who attended school between 1910 and 1930

\- Segregated classes \n - Restrictive placements \n - Led to parents banning together

Parent Movement \[in Special Education\]

* Characterized by advocacy for educational rights of children with disabilities
* Local groups had been forming for years

Civil Rights Movement

* Parent Movement gained the momentum necessary to make significant progress.
* Landmark case: Brown v. Topeka Board of Education in 1954

\-Laid the foundation for equal educational rights for those with disabilities

PARC v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1971)

Resulted in the requirement for the state to provide these children with a free public education in a program most like that designed for their typically developing peers.

Mills v. DC Board of Education (1972)

DC public schools were ordered to provide students with disabilities with a public school education.

1965: Elementary and Secondary Education Act (**ESEA)**

**The first law in which the federal government offered direct aid to the states for educational purposes**

* 1974: Amendments were made to the ESEA specifically aimed at individuals with disabilities

1973: Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act

An effort to protect individuals with disabilities from discrimination by any agency receiving federal funds

1975: Education for all Handicapped Children Act **(EAHCA**; pl 94-142)

**Mandated free and appropriate public education (FAPE) for children and teens with disabilities**

* Most significantly changed the course of SPED by providing educational rights for all students with disabilities and shifting control of special education from the states to the federal government
* When enacted, outlined conditions for providing states with funding \n to assist with the education of students with disabilities.

2004: IDEA

* Increasing accountability for students in SPED
* Allowed states to implement Response to Intervention (RtI) method

IDEA Key parts

* Zero reject
* Protection in Evaluation
* Individualized Education Program (IEP) Team
* Free appropriate public education (FAPE)
* Least restrictive environment (LRE)
* Procedural safeguards

IDEA Eligible Disability Categories

1. Autism
2. Visual Impairment, Including Blindness
3. Hearing Impairment
4. Deaf-Blindness
5. Emotional Disturbance
6. Intellectual Disability
7. Multiple Disabilities
8. Orthopedic Impairment
9. Other Health Impairment
10. Specific Learning Disability
11. Speech or Language Impairment
12. Traumatic Brain Injury

Bias in Testing: Schools

Major criticisms of the use of IQ testing to determine school placement.


1. Lack of proper inclusion of minority groups in test standardization samples
2. IQ tests may not provide a fair representation of intelligence for some groups
3. issues of language barriers to assessment

\
Suggested biased classification of children from minority groups into remedial classes on the basis of IQ testing

**Larry P.V. Riles (1979)**

Use of intelligence testing for school placement decisions for African American children in California ruled unconstitutional

\
* On basis of lack of group representation in test standardization sample
* Proportion of African American students classified as ID must match their proportion in the school population

\

Ethics

**Moral principals and standards that guide** \n **behavior**

* Provide a basis for arriving at reasonable \n inferences about individuals being assessed

Importance of Ethics

Assessment involves gathering and interpreting data and using good clinical judgment.

* ETHICS GUIDE EVERY STEP OF THIS PROCESS

\

Responsibilities of Test Publishers

(test considerations)

* Release High Quality Instruments
* Technical manuals/guides must be sufficient in order for qualified users to assess the appropriateness and \n adequacy of the test
* Publication & Marketing
* Advertising should be accurate
* Positive and negative findings should be presented
* More than “just about the money”
* Competence of Test Purchasers
* Only qualified users should be given access
* How should distribution be limited?

Responsibilities of Test User

* **Best Interest of the Client**
* Practitioner should ask: “What is in the best interest of the \n child?”
* Test should serve a constructive purpose
* **Confidentiality and Duty to Warn**
* With rare exceptions (e.g., mandated reporting), confidentiality is the expectation; otherwise explicit written \n consent must be given
* Duty to Warn - Clinicians must communicate any serious threat of harm to potential victims, law enforcement agencies, or both; must inform clients of the legal limits of \n confidentiality
* **Expertise of Test User**
* “The user must possess the expertise needed to evaluate psychological tests for proper standardization, reliability, \n validity, interpretive accuracy, and other psychometric characteristics.”
* Must be able to discern when test interpretation might not be applicable/interpretable because of individual differences (e.g., language, disability status)

Informed Consent

“Informed consent implies that test takers or \n representatives are made aware, in language that they can understand, of the reasons for testing, the type of tests to be used, the intended use and the range of material \n consequences of the intended use. If written, video, or audio records are made of the testing session, or other records are kept, test takers are entitled to know what testing information will be released and to whom” (AERA, 1999).

* Necessary Elements:
* Disclosure
* Competency
* Voluntariness

Bias in Testing

Bias: “systematic error in a test score,” “a statistical property of a test”

* Occurs when a test “systematically underestimates or overestimates the value of the variable it is designed to measure”
* Most tests are based largely on middle-class values and knowledge

Fairness in testing

A moral, philosophical, or legal issue

* A matter of opinion and debate

Testing Cultural and Linguistic Minorities

* Tests are largely based on results of White (European origin) samples conducted by White (European origin) psychologists
* Goddard (1920’s), intelligence of the average immigrant “perhaps moron grade”
* Did not acknowledge that language or cultural influences could be involved

Cultural Test Bias Hypothesis (CTBH)

Proposes that differences between groups (e.g., gender, race, ethnicity) in mean test scores are due to artifacts of the test or measurement, and not due to true group differences

* Suggests that tests are more valid for those individuals upon which the tests are mainly based (e.g., differential validity)
* \

High-Stakes Testing

Tests that have life-/community-changing implications

* Cheating is more prevalent than we’d like \n to think
* ex: college entrance exam, job

Measurement

“A set of rules for assigning numbers to represent objects, traits, attributes, or behaviors”

Psychometrics

The science of psychological measurement

Psychometrician

Specialist who develops and evaluates tests

A scale

**A set of numbers or symbols used to categorize data.**

* \n A scale can also be “designed to indicate and measure the degree to which an event or behavior has occurred”

Nominal Scale

\
**Numbers or letters assigned to objects serve as labels for classification/categories**

* Ex:male(1) Female(2) \[#’s don’t mean more or less\]

Ordinal Scale

\
**Ordinal measurements describe order, but not relative size or degree of difference**

* Ex: first, second, third OR poor, fair, good, excellent

Likert Scale (type of Ordinal Scales)

* Ranking scale with alternative responses
* Likert scales often treated as “interval scales,” but in reality they are ordinal

Interval Scale

**Interval data is measured on a continuous scale with equal intervals with no true zero point**

* Ex: Time \[moves along a continuous measurement (seconds, minutes, or hours) and is without a zero point of time.\]
* Ex: Temperature \[Temperature (Celsius, Fahrenheit) moves along a continuous \n measure of degrees and is without a true zero.\]

Ratio

**Ratio data is measured on a continuous scale with equal intervals and a true zero point**

* Examples: \n •Weight, height, length

Raw Scores

Most basic level of information provided by a test

* In isolation raw scores are meaningless

Norms

**Indicate an examinee’s standing on a test relative to the performance of his/her peers.**

* Can come in the following forms: \n Percentile ranks, Age equivalents, Grade equivalents, Etc.
* An examinee’s score can be compared to the distribution of scores obtained by the standardization sample
* Can determine whether the person’s score is low, average, or high (relative to the norm)
* Norm Group – “consists of a sample of examinees who are representative of the population for whom the test is intended”
* AKA, Standardization Sample

Frequency Distributions

A distribution is a set of scores that allow for comparisons

* Ex: Frequency distribution table, Histogram

Measures of central tendency

Mean

* Sensitive to extreme values

Median

* May be better when the distribution is skewed (includes extreme values)

Mode

* Would be better if we were interested in the most popular category for something

Measures of Variability

**Variability: The spread or dispersion of scores about the mean**

* Most commonly used statistical index of variability: __*Standard Deviation*__
* __*Range*__ is another measure: The difference between the highest and lowest score in \n a distribution

Standard Deviation

Reflects the degree of dispersion in a group of scores

* denoted as s or SD (for samples)

The Normal Distribution

* Bell curve
* “Ideal” distribution
* Probability distribution that is perfectly symmetrical
* 50% of scores above the mean and 50% of scores below the mean
* Mean = Median = Mode

Skewness

* Left -Skewed (Negative Skewness)
* Right- Skewed (Positive Skewness)

\

Standard Scores

* Interpretable
* Express the distance from the mean in standard deviation units
* Not only express the magnitude of deviation from the mean, also express the direction (positive or negative)
* Allow for direct comparison to others who have taken the same test \n - Are meaningful

\

Z- Scores

Distribution with a mean of 0 and a standard deviation (SD) of 1