Disclaimer: This post is NOT to be taken as legal advice. I am not a lawyer or a recognized expert on this topic. This is simply a collection of publicly available information in order to help guide you in the understanding of test disclosure guidelines. All resources are sourced for your information as well as the provision of contact information to verify the sources.
Now that that's out of the way. I occasionally get asked questions about whether or not test materials (record forms; response booklets) are to be disclosed upon parental request in psychoeducational cases in Ontario/Canada. I am actually hosting a brief discussion on the topic tomorrow and have put together a resource that I thought might be useful for everyone in our shoes.
The document I have put together includes an examination of three of major Canadian test publishers disclosure agreements, CPA's opinion on the topic, the colleges reported thoughts (from their website's search system), as well as a look at PIPEDA and Ontario based legislation. It would seem pretty clear that record forms are NOT to be disclosed unless the scores themselves can be separated from the item content.
I have posted a PDF (HERE) that summarizes the details from each of these sources. The original source is provided for each item as well so that you can check it all out yourself.
*EDIT* Just a note that a slight modification of this document was made on Friday January 26th at 10pm eastern as a result of a personal communication with a CPO member discussing their current stance on test disclosure guidelines *END EDIT*
I also suggest you review the full test disclosure recommendation form at CPA by CLICKING HERE and the Psynopsis article written by an actual legal consultant by CLICKING HERE.
An interesting discussion point would be whether we must include this on our future consent forms. We could likely assume that our clients are not aware of these privacy stipulations.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Z is to T as StS is to ScS and all are to %ile is to ACK!
No matter how many assessments I do I seem to have a total memory block for what T score, standard score, scaled score, goes with which percentile, which is what in the end I report.
Every manual should have a good table for this, but they are hard to track down if it is in there at all. It is assumed that we all have these memorized, but my brain apparently can only take so much :)
Add to this the addition of T-Scores to a lot of recent cognitive tests (WNV, DAS-II) and my head just exploded.
With my scoring assistant on one computer and my report on another I decided to track down an online table and found a pretty decent one. This table does full conversions for T-Scores, Z-Scores, Standard Scores, Scaled Scores, Percentiles, and descriptive categories. Be cautious with the categories as these same to change with time, tests, and political correctness but you should use a consistent one in your reports anyways. CLICK HERE to see/use the tables.
Every manual should have a good table for this, but they are hard to track down if it is in there at all. It is assumed that we all have these memorized, but my brain apparently can only take so much :)
Add to this the addition of T-Scores to a lot of recent cognitive tests (WNV, DAS-II) and my head just exploded.
With my scoring assistant on one computer and my report on another I decided to track down an online table and found a pretty decent one. This table does full conversions for T-Scores, Z-Scores, Standard Scores, Scaled Scores, Percentiles, and descriptive categories. Be cautious with the categories as these same to change with time, tests, and political correctness but you should use a consistent one in your reports anyways. CLICK HERE to see/use the tables.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Newsbits: Tuesday January 23rd
Not a lot to report of late but I found a few interesting resources for everyone.
Language Immersion - Not all good
Earlier today I was visiting a regional board for a top secret meeting (not really top secret but it makes it seem more exciting that way) and came across a pamphlet promoting the French immersion schools available within the board. I have long regretted my lack of multilingualism and have wondered if I would send any future offspring of mine to a French immersion program when that time comes. Literature has been mixed on whether such a program is a good idea. It is hard to really discover the truth with all of this as the vast majority of measures used on these kids was designed either to measure Anglophone's or Francophone's specifically and was not normed in an immersion environment (the FIAT is an exception but is so old who knows if it's accurate any more). Add one more study to the confusion, it now appears that learning a new language can actually lead to decreased fluency with your mother tongue. It appears that this is not due to forgetting, but rather is due to an active inhibition of ones primary language that cause distraction while integrating a new language. This may in fact be an adaptive strategy to aid in the more efficient acquisition of a second language. If this is accurate it would be interesting to see if this effect occurs with those second language learners with executive impairments. You can read the research review by clicking here
Save Some Paper - Hire a Chiropractor
Who would of thought we would of been wasting so much time teaching emerging academic schools and focusing on remediation and intervention designs. An unusual study out of Europe has performed a meta-analysis of previous studies, finding that chiropractic services show significant cognitive benefits for children with learning disabilities and Dyslexia. So drop those remediation guides, read the article by clicking here, and pull on an arm!
Intelligence Blogging
I wanted to post some blogs that are worth reading on topics similar to mine.
IQ's Corner by Dr. Kevin McGrew (a WJ-III author) is a very useful and daily updated blog. Of special interest is a handful of articles on a range of School Psych topics which might be worth snagging before the publisher ask for them to be pulled (hopefully they have permission to post them as Dr. McGrew is a guru of tracking down great articles).
Dr. McGrew also has a very interesting cognitive psych blog that is a bit more experimentally oriented but is certainly worth a read for those of you who are thinking at that level it can be found by clicking here.
Developing Intelligence is another upper level cognitive psych blog that I read daily.
EIDE Neurolearning is a fairly new blog to my reading list. Its focus is on remediation design at a neuro level.
As with any source I encourage everyone to be skeptical with blogs (mine included) as they are typically opinion pieces and as an opinionated person I can tell you we are the type who blog! Fortunately the aforementioned sites routinely present their sources which should always be read before solidifying your own opinions.
Language Immersion - Not all good
Earlier today I was visiting a regional board for a top secret meeting (not really top secret but it makes it seem more exciting that way) and came across a pamphlet promoting the French immersion schools available within the board. I have long regretted my lack of multilingualism and have wondered if I would send any future offspring of mine to a French immersion program when that time comes. Literature has been mixed on whether such a program is a good idea. It is hard to really discover the truth with all of this as the vast majority of measures used on these kids was designed either to measure Anglophone's or Francophone's specifically and was not normed in an immersion environment (the FIAT is an exception but is so old who knows if it's accurate any more). Add one more study to the confusion, it now appears that learning a new language can actually lead to decreased fluency with your mother tongue. It appears that this is not due to forgetting, but rather is due to an active inhibition of ones primary language that cause distraction while integrating a new language. This may in fact be an adaptive strategy to aid in the more efficient acquisition of a second language. If this is accurate it would be interesting to see if this effect occurs with those second language learners with executive impairments. You can read the research review by clicking here
Save Some Paper - Hire a Chiropractor
Who would of thought we would of been wasting so much time teaching emerging academic schools and focusing on remediation and intervention designs. An unusual study out of Europe has performed a meta-analysis of previous studies, finding that chiropractic services show significant cognitive benefits for children with learning disabilities and Dyslexia. So drop those remediation guides, read the article by clicking here, and pull on an arm!
Intelligence Blogging
I wanted to post some blogs that are worth reading on topics similar to mine.
IQ's Corner by Dr. Kevin McGrew (a WJ-III author) is a very useful and daily updated blog. Of special interest is a handful of articles on a range of School Psych topics which might be worth snagging before the publisher ask for them to be pulled (hopefully they have permission to post them as Dr. McGrew is a guru of tracking down great articles).
Dr. McGrew also has a very interesting cognitive psych blog that is a bit more experimentally oriented but is certainly worth a read for those of you who are thinking at that level it can be found by clicking here.
Developing Intelligence is another upper level cognitive psych blog that I read daily.
EIDE Neurolearning is a fairly new blog to my reading list. Its focus is on remediation design at a neuro level.
As with any source I encourage everyone to be skeptical with blogs (mine included) as they are typically opinion pieces and as an opinionated person I can tell you we are the type who blog! Fortunately the aforementioned sites routinely present their sources which should always be read before solidifying your own opinions.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Bullying Can Be Reduced But Most Common Approaches Ineffective
The Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine have an interesting metaanalysis article available this month regarding the success of School-Based bullying interventions. The analysis found that the vast majority of anti-bullying programming was ineffective including classroom discussions, role playing, or detention.
There were positive results found when a more holistic model was involved that utilized a whole school approach with involvement from administration, teachers, and social workers (or counseling staff). Unfortunately such a large scale targeted model is expensive and may suggest the need for the utilization of a more appropriate and accurate method of identifying bullying incidents. I've used the Reynolds Bully Victimization Scales for Schools (Reynold's of APS, RADS & RASI fame) a few times. The tool is useful for both externalized and internalized aspects of bullying (but victimization and bullying behaviour) and could be a useful solution for targetting more accurately.
CLICK HERE to read a review of the Article
CLICK HERE to read the journal abstract
CLICK HERE for a link to Reynolds bio
There were positive results found when a more holistic model was involved that utilized a whole school approach with involvement from administration, teachers, and social workers (or counseling staff). Unfortunately such a large scale targeted model is expensive and may suggest the need for the utilization of a more appropriate and accurate method of identifying bullying incidents. I've used the Reynolds Bully Victimization Scales for Schools (Reynold's of APS, RADS & RASI fame) a few times. The tool is useful for both externalized and internalized aspects of bullying (but victimization and bullying behaviour) and could be a useful solution for targetting more accurately.
CLICK HERE to read a review of the Article
CLICK HERE to read the journal abstract
CLICK HERE for a link to Reynolds bio
Friday, January 12, 2007
Bilingualism protections against dementia and attention/cognitive problems
Some very interesting research coming out of Baycrest in Toronto in the February issue of Neuropsychologia. Essentially they examined the age of Dementia onset between monolingual and bilingual clients, finding that the bilingual group had a significantly later onset of the disorder. Mini-Mental (MMSE) and demographic characteristics (gender, age, education level) were not significantly different between the two groups.
This is one of several bilingualism studies that have been carried out at Baycrest of late including one that found decreased attention and cognitive difficulties in bilingual children and adults (note: I have not had a chance to review the cognitive/attention research but will post a review shortly).
Interestingly the results were based on an essentially eastern European language sample (25 languages with the highest prevalence of Polish, Yiddish, German, Romanian and Hungarian). I would be interested myself in seeing a anglophone / francophone / bilingual comparison.
You can CLICK HERE to read a review of the article.
The long and the short of it is that myself as a monolingual anglophone appears to be doomed! :)
This is one of several bilingualism studies that have been carried out at Baycrest of late including one that found decreased attention and cognitive difficulties in bilingual children and adults (note: I have not had a chance to review the cognitive/attention research but will post a review shortly).
Interestingly the results were based on an essentially eastern European language sample (25 languages with the highest prevalence of Polish, Yiddish, German, Romanian and Hungarian). I would be interested myself in seeing a anglophone / francophone / bilingual comparison.
You can CLICK HERE to read a review of the article.
The long and the short of it is that myself as a monolingual anglophone appears to be doomed! :)
Aging and Memory Functioning
A bit out of the age range we typically assess in schools, but an interesting article was published this weak in Research on Aging in regards to the relationships between education, cognitive score, and the rate of decline in cognitive function in individuals beyond 70 years of age.
The article replicated previous results that showed positive correlations between level of education and cognition, as well as a tendency for a decreased rate of cognitive decline. However, they found that education level did not lower the rate of decline in working memory. In fact higher educaiton levels were associated with a faster cognitive decline on verbal memory measures.
It is likely a reflection of the more ability you have the more you have to lose but the results are worth a look at.
You can find the original abstract by clicking here or read a thorough review by clicking here.
The article wins my quote of the week with:
"Study director Eileen Crimmins of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology says she wouldn't recommend halting any schooling based on the results."
The article replicated previous results that showed positive correlations between level of education and cognition, as well as a tendency for a decreased rate of cognitive decline. However, they found that education level did not lower the rate of decline in working memory. In fact higher educaiton levels were associated with a faster cognitive decline on verbal memory measures.
It is likely a reflection of the more ability you have the more you have to lose but the results are worth a look at.
You can find the original abstract by clicking here or read a thorough review by clicking here.
The article wins my quote of the week with:
"Study director Eileen Crimmins of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology says she wouldn't recommend halting any schooling based on the results."
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Thursday Newsbytes
Slow newsday today but I came across a couple of interesting tidbits.
US Standoff Between School Staff and "No Child Left Behind" Literacy Testing
Interesting challenge in the US to the No Child Left Behind act which has now mandated that literacy testing be done in the native tongue of ESL/ELL students. While the NCLB act is not a Canadian concern it is worth a read given our heavy ESL population in Canadian schools. I work for a major assessment company and I would not even know where to start to find native language literacy tests for half the students I have assessed. CLICK HERE to read the full article. It is certainly worth a look at another example of mandates coming from individuals who do not understand the process.
Insomnia and Children
I do think about sleep patterns a bit when I assess and always ask about a students sleep patterns, but have not historically thought a lot about causal factors of sleep problems. I came across a pediatric blog while researching the Sleep Disorder Inventory for Students (SDIS) that may be a worthwhile read (CLICK HERE) for some of you. The differential diagnosis issues (including ADHD) were particularly interesting for me.
Zero Tolerence Policies
When this APA press release first came out last August I missed it (as I suspect a lot of summer vacation staff would of as well) but it is worth a look for those involved in policy making. Seems the zero tolerence approaches towards school behaviour and drug issues actually make things worse. CLICK HERE to have a read.
US Standoff Between School Staff and "No Child Left Behind" Literacy Testing
Interesting challenge in the US to the No Child Left Behind act which has now mandated that literacy testing be done in the native tongue of ESL/ELL students. While the NCLB act is not a Canadian concern it is worth a read given our heavy ESL population in Canadian schools. I work for a major assessment company and I would not even know where to start to find native language literacy tests for half the students I have assessed. CLICK HERE to read the full article. It is certainly worth a look at another example of mandates coming from individuals who do not understand the process.
Insomnia and Children
I do think about sleep patterns a bit when I assess and always ask about a students sleep patterns, but have not historically thought a lot about causal factors of sleep problems. I came across a pediatric blog while researching the Sleep Disorder Inventory for Students (SDIS) that may be a worthwhile read (CLICK HERE) for some of you. The differential diagnosis issues (including ADHD) were particularly interesting for me.
Zero Tolerence Policies
When this APA press release first came out last August I missed it (as I suspect a lot of summer vacation staff would of as well) but it is worth a look for those involved in policy making. Seems the zero tolerence approaches towards school behaviour and drug issues actually make things worse. CLICK HERE to have a read.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
School Psychologists: One of 2007's Best Careers!
Apparently even with all this RTI fuss in the United States there is still high demand for School Psychologists. In fact USNews.com has reported that in '07 school psychology is one of the top careers of the year. Apparently retirement levels are about to reach a peak and demand for services is up.
The article also listed median salaries for a number of major US cities. The main lesson of the story is do not move to Texas unless you want to live in a tent. Instead head to California for sun, sand, bags of cash, and a few earthquakes! I am actually surprised by the median. Given the wages of some people I know, there is some people who are very underpaid!
CLICK HERE to read the brief report.
The article also listed median salaries for a number of major US cities. The main lesson of the story is do not move to Texas unless you want to live in a tent. Instead head to California for sun, sand, bags of cash, and a few earthquakes! I am actually surprised by the median. Given the wages of some people I know, there is some people who are very underpaid!
CLICK HERE to read the brief report.
35 Years of Giftedness: Longitudinal Study
The monster of gifted longitudinal studies was published this month in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science. The article examined predictive factors of success in those at the upper limits of the gifted range (exceptional giftedness) in a "Developing Our Brightest Minds" framework.
I have had a bit of difficulty tracking down the original article but have gathered some details from several reviews and abstracts. Basically they found four key factors:
The most comprehensive review of the article can be found by CLICKING HERE.
I found it interesting (a bit funny and a bit bizarre) that no where in the article does it link its recommendation of the importance of providing appropriate educational opportunities for gifted children with positive outcomes and benefits for gifted children. Rather it seems to be all about the benefit of society:
“These findings come at a time when our nation is gathering its diverse resources to ensure that we are positioned to compete in a flat, technology-driven world ... Supporting and cultivating our most intellectually gifted students is critical to maintaining our economic competitiveness globally. This research will help educators identify those students who have the most potential to become exceptional professionals and leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”
I have had a bit of difficulty tracking down the original article but have gathered some details from several reviews and abstracts. Basically they found four key factors:
- Cognitive Abilities
- Educational Opportunities
- Investigative Interests
- Old-fashioned Hard Work
The most comprehensive review of the article can be found by CLICKING HERE.
I found it interesting (a bit funny and a bit bizarre) that no where in the article does it link its recommendation of the importance of providing appropriate educational opportunities for gifted children with positive outcomes and benefits for gifted children. Rather it seems to be all about the benefit of society:
“These findings come at a time when our nation is gathering its diverse resources to ensure that we are positioned to compete in a flat, technology-driven world ... Supporting and cultivating our most intellectually gifted students is critical to maintaining our economic competitiveness globally. This research will help educators identify those students who have the most potential to become exceptional professionals and leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”
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