Ethical, Legal, and Professional Issues in Assessment
Ethical Considerations in Assessment
Ethical Codes: Provide guidelines for professional conduct in specific situations.
Professional Associations: ACA and APA offer ethical guidelines addressing testing and assessment.
Key Ethical Considerations:
Choosing appropriate assessment instruments.
Maintaining competence in assessment use.
Ensuring confidentiality.
Showing cross-cultural sensitivity.
Obtaining informed consent.
Avoiding invasion of privacy.
Ensuring proper diagnosis.
Managing release of test data.
Following proper test administration procedures.
Maintaining test security.
Ensuring accurate test scoring and interpretation.
Test Worthiness: Encompasses reliability, validity, cross-cultural fairness, and practicality.
Reliability refers to the consistency of a test.
Validity refers to the test measuring what it is supposed to measure.
Competence in Test Use
Professionals must have adequate knowledge and familiarity with tests they use.
APA's Three-Tier System (1954): Established test user qualifications (still used by many test publishers).
Level A: Can be administered, scored, and interpreted by responsible non-psychologists familiar with the test manual and the overall purpose of testing (e.g., educational achievement tests).
Level B: Requires technical knowledge of test construction and appropriate advanced coursework in psychology (e.g., statistics, individual differences, counseling).
Level C: Requires an advanced degree in psychology or licensure as a psychologist, plus advanced training/supervised experience in the specific test.
Examples of Test Administration:
Level A: Teachers can administer most survey battery achievement tests.
Level B: Counselors can administer personality tests, interest inventories, and many objective personality tests after a basic course in tests and measurement.
Level C: Requires specialized training, such as most individual tests of intelligence and most projective tests. Reserved for those with a master's degree and advanced training.
Confidentiality
Critical part of the assessment process, similar to therapeutic relationships.
Professionals must navigate potential conflicts between professional responsibility and the law.
Conditions for Revealing Confidential Information:
Client is in danger of harming self or others.
Client is a minor or legally incompetent, and parents/guardians have a legal right to information.
Client requests a breach of confidentiality (e.g., testimony needed in court).
Defense against charges filed by a client.
Court order to break confidentiality (if privileged communication doesn't exist).
Sharing info with clerical help, colleagues, or supervisors to benefit the client.
Written agreement from the client to reveal information to specified sources.
Cross-Cultural Sensitivity
Focuses on potential biases in assessment procedures during selection, administration, and interpretation.
Professionals must be aware of and attend to the effects of various factors on test administration and interpretation:
Age, color, cultural identity, disability, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status.
Informed Consent
Ensuring clients receive information about the nature and purpose of the assessment process.
Clients must give permission to be assessed.
Exceptions: When implied (e.g., achievement tests in schools) or mandated by the courts (e.g., custody battles).
Invasion of Privacy
Acknowledges that testing can infringe upon privacy.
Concerns lessened with informed consent, real choice in accepting or refusing testing, and awareness of confidentiality limits.
Proper Diagnosis
Emphasizes the professional's role in choosing assessment techniques to form a diagnosis.
Considers the ramifications of making a diagnosis for a mental disorder.
Release of Test Data
Data should only be released with client consent.
Release is limited to individuals who can adequately interpret the test data and will not misuse the information.
Test Administration
Reinforces that tests should be administered according to established and standardized procedures.
Alterations to the process should be noted, and interpretations adjusted if conditions were not ideal.
Test Security
Professionals are responsible for ensuring the integrity of test content and the security of the test itself.
Duplication or alteration of test materials without permission is prohibited.
Test Scoring and Interpretation
Professionals should reflect on how test worthiness (reliability, validity, cross-cultural fairness, and practicality) might affect results.
Results should reflect potential problems with test interpretation.
Standards for Responsible Testing Practices
Developed to guide practices in educational, agency, and private practice settings.
Examples:
Standards for Qualifications of Test Users.
Responsibilities of Users of Standardized Tests.
Standards for Multicultural Assessment.
Code of Fair Testing Practices.
Rights and Responsibilities of Test Takers.
Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing.
Competencies for Testing in School Counseling; Mental Health Counseling; Marriage, Couples, and Family Counseling; Career Counseling, and Substance Abuse Counseling.
Ethical Decision-Making
Ethical codes may be limiting when facing thorny ethical dilemmas, thus other avenues are available.
Moral Model (Kitchener): Six critical moral principles:
Autonomy: Protecting independence, self-determination, and freedom of choice.
Nonmaleficence: "Do no harm."
Beneficence: Promoting the good of society and client well-being.
Justice: Providing equal and fair treatment.
Fidelity: Maintaining trust (e.g., confidentiality).
Veracity: Being truthful and genuine.
Culture of the client might impact understanding of the results and of how the principles are applied.
Hands-On Ethical Decision-Making Model
Corey, Corey, Corey, and Callanan's Eight-Step Model:
Identify the problem or dilemma.
Identify the potential issues involved.
Review the relevant ethical guidelines.
Know the applicable laws and regulations.
Obtain consultation.
Consider possible and probable courses of action.
Enumerate the consequences of various decisions.
Decide on what appears to be the best course of action.
Ethical decision-making is influenced by ethical, moral, and cognitive development. Those at higher levels of cognitive development view ethical decision-making in more complex ways.
Legal Issues in Assessment
Laws and lawsuits address confidentiality, fairness, and test worthiness.
Key Laws:
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Privileged communication laws.
Freedom of Information Act.
Civil Rights Acts (1964 and amendments).
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (PL 101-336).
Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA).
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
Carl Perkins Act (PL 98-24).
The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974
Also called the Buckley Amendment.
Assures the right of privacy of student records, including test records.
Applies to schools receiving federal funds (K-12 and higher education).
Gives parents/students (over 18) the right to review records.
If records are incorrect/misleading, parents/students can challenge records.
Schools must receive written permission to release records, except in specific circumstances.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
Passed in 1996, includes privacy, transaction rule, and security rules.
Restricts information shared without client consent.
Allows clients access to their records, except for process notes used in counseling.
Requires agencies to show compliance.
Key Features:
Clients are given information regarding their right to privacy.
Agencies have clear procedures established to protect client privacy.
Employees are trained to protect privacy of clients.
Client records are secure.
Privileged Communication
Legal right to maintain privacy of conversation
Protected conversations with therapists, attorneys, doctors, clergy, etc.
Encourages clients to engage in conversations without fear of disclosure.
Privilege belongs to the client and client can waive that privilege.
A 1996 ruling upheld the right to privileged communication (Jaffee v. Redmond, 1996).
Should not be confused with confidentiality, which is the ethical obligation of counselor to keep conversations confidential.
Freedom of Information Act
Passed in 1967, amended in 2002.
Assures the right of individuals to access their federal records, including test records, if a request is made in writing.
All states have similar laws about state records.
Civil Rights Acts (1964 and Amendments)
Bans discrimination in schools, public places, and employment.
Tests used for employment/promotion must be suitable and valid for the job.
Alternative assessment means must be provided if not.
Differential test cutoffs are not allowed unless scores are based on valid educational principles.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (PL 101-336)
Implemented in 1992 bans discrimination in employment, public services/transportation, public accommodations, and telecommunications for individuals with disabilities.
Accommodations must be made for individuals with disabilities taking tests for employment.
Testing must be shown to be relevant to the job in question.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
Guarantees the right to a free and public education, with appropriate accommodations, for children with disabilities.
Part B of the law focuses on testing in schools.
A student between 3 and 21 has the right to be tested, at the school system’s expense, if suspected of having a disability that interferes with learning.
If disability exists, they must be given accommodations and taught within the "least restrictive environment."
Any assessment that is conducted should be cross-culturally appropriate, and parents should be informed of the kinds of tests being used and give permission for the child to be tested.
If the assessments indicate that special education eligibility requirements are met and if parental consent given, an individualized education plan (IEP) must be developed within 30 calendar days of the evaluation.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
Applies to organizations and employers receiving federal financial assistance.
Developed to create a "level playing field" and prevent discrimination based on disability.
Organizations and Employers cannot:
Deny qualified individuals the opportunity to participate in or benefit from federally funded programs, services, or other benefits.
Deny access to programs, services, benefits, or opportunities to participate as a result of physical barriers.
Deny employment opportunities, including hiring, promotion, training, and fringe benefits, for which they are otherwise entitled or qualified.
Assessment for programs must measure ability and not disability.
Carl Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006
Gives financial grants to states.
Ensures individuals in six identified "special populations" have access to vocational assessment, counseling, and placement.
Populations: Individuals with disabilities, those from economically disadvantaged families, individuals preparing for nontraditional fields, single parents, displaced homemakers, and individuals with limited English proficiency.
Professional Issues
Two Professional Associations:
AARC (Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling): Promotes best practices in assessment, research, and evaluation in counseling.
Division 5 of the American Psychological Association: Evaluation, Measurement, and Statistics: Promotes high standards in both research and practical application of psychological assessment, evaluation, measurement, and statistics.
Accreditation Standards
Associations have accreditation standards that specifically speak to curriculum issues in assessment.
Organizations such as the APA, the National Association of School Psychologists, and the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), setting standards that drive the curriculum for their graduate programs.
Forensic Evaluations
Mental health professionals evaluate law enforcement and legal issues.
They must have accurate knowledge of assessment, legal, and ethical issues.
Forensic evaluators and forensic psychologists need to know how to conduct forensic evaluations, which include the use of specific tests for the situation at hand, interviewing techniques that are focused on the goals of the court case, knowledge of ethical and legal issues relevant to expert testimony and the specific case, and how to write forensic reports that will be used in court.
Assessment as a Holistic Process
Assessment is broader than a simple test.
Avoid using a single test score as the sole determinant of decisions and "Interpret test scores in conjunction with other information about individuals".
Includes formal tests, informal assessment instruments, and a clinical interview.
Factors such as individual's motivation, intention, and focus of attention needs to be accounted for.
Evaluator should take into account test scores, multiple assessment procedures, individual traits, and cultural factors that can impact results when making suggestions and decisions about the client.
Assessment is continuous and constant.
Cross-Cultural Issues in Assessment
Review of contemporary articles on testing and assessment shows there has been increased attention to bias in testing and how it disproportionately affects minorities and women.
Ethical codes and standards that address assessment include statements concerning how to choose, administer, and interpret tests and assessment instruments for minorities and women.
Assume that all tests hold some bias.
Be in touch with your own biases and prejudices.
Only use tests that have been shown to be constructed using sound research procedures.
Only use tests that have good validity and reliability.
Know there are times when it is appropriate to test and times when it is not.
Know how to choose good tests that are relevant to the situation at hand.
Know how to administer, score, and interpret tests within the cultural context of the client.
View assessment as a holistic process, and whenever possible and reasonable, include interviews, formal testing, and informal testing.
Know and consider the implications that testing may have for the client.
Advocate for clients when tests are shown to be biased.
Treat people humanely during the assessment process.
Embracing Testing and Assessment Procedures
Helps clients know themselves better; understand behavior, strengths, and choices.
Aversions to assessment is unfair to clients.
Multiple assessment procedures should always be considered.
Fears and biases should not affect the helping relationship.