Search

Popular ideas often spread like wildfire among higher education curricula within teacher preparation programs, which leads to the hasty promotion of constructs that are both bereft of empirical sup...

Multiculturalism has succeeded in bringing much-needed attention to historically neglected minority populations. Despite the gains that multiculturalism has facilitated, as presently implemented, it may inadvertently contribute to reduced social cohesion and declining intergroup relations. We draw from social-psychological, including attitudinal and social-cognitive, perspectives to provide a theoretically and empirically informed analysis of why, despite many of its successes, multiculturalism often struggles to deliver on some of its laudable promises. We highlight three areas of concern regarding contemporary presentations of multiculturalism: (a) a strong emphasis on intergroup differences rather than a more balanced emphasis between differences and commonalities; (b) majority group members’ perceptions that multiculturalism excludes them; and (c) framings of multiculturalism that evoke extrinsic forms of motivation. Finally, we provide several recommendations aimed at a balanced and scientifically informed understanding of multiculturalism. Although these recommendations are theoretically grounded and empirically supported, the proposed benefits of our approach need to be tested against alternative approaches.

The simple view of writing suggests that written composition results from oral language, transcription (e.g., spelling/handwriting), and self-regulation skills, coordinated within working memory. The model provides a number of implications for the interpretation of psychoeducational achievement batteries. For instance, it hypothesizes that writing skills are only partially related to each other through a hierarchy of levels of language (e.g., subword, word, sentence, discourse levels) and that transcription skills such as spelling mediate the effects of language skills on composition. We evaluated implications of the simple view of writing in the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test, 3rd Edition (WIAT-III). Using structural equation modeling, we established that WIAT-III writing tasks are only partially related to each other within both the battery’s normative sample and an independent sample of students referred for special education. We also described how lower level writing skills mediated the effects of language skills on higher level writing skills. However, these effects varied across normative and referral samples.

Charter schools are a growing phenomenon in the contemporary educational landscape. In this article, charter schools are defined, and the various reasons that contributed to the creation of, and interest in, charter schools are briefly described. Select examples of successful, well-performing charters are profiled, along with criticisms of charter schools from various sectors. Eighty-nine trainers within school psychology programs throughout America responded to an anonymous online survey that asked their opinions on controversial topics related to charter schools, as well as indicating the extent to which their students were placed in charter schools for practica and internships within the past 5 years. Results indicated no clear imbalance of opinions on most controversial issues. However, a clear orientation against uncertified teachers working in charters, as well as an unwillingness to place students in charters without high quality services to children with disabilities, was observed. Implications of this research are then discussed.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is the most widely used classification system of mental health disorders in the world. Currently in its fifth edition (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 5th edn. American Psychiatric Publishing, Arlington, 2013), the DSM has been continually revised over the past 60 years as new research is made available to users. There is a robust movement among psychiatric and psychological scholars to upgrade the DSM with each of its revisions to incorporate and modify, when appropriate, findings that enable DSM users to better understand how to accurately serve individuals from diverse countries and diverse cultural, racial, ethnic, language, and immigrant backgrounds. A common template used by many in this movement is to characterize mental health services and nosology as being influenced by “Western” vs. “Non-Western” influences. This chapter argues that the terms “Western” and “Non-Western” do not enjoy a universal consensus in how they are defined. The boundaries between these two terms are fuzzy and permeable, and many groups worldwide share similar and dissimilar Western and Non-Western characteristics simultaneously. The difficult issues inherent in these observations and problems are elucidated, and suggestions are advanced for ways in which cultural supplements to the DSM can appropriately address these issues.

Although spelling skill progress has typically been studied within the context of students' responses to written story starters (Deno, Marsten, & Mirkin, 1982; Fuchs & Fuchs, 2011; Hosp, Hosp, & Ho...

Data from the standardization sample of the Woodcock–Johnson Psychoeducational Battery–Third Edition (WJ III) Cognitive standard battery and Test Session Observation Checklist items were analyzed to understand the relationship between g (general mental ability) and test session behavior (TSB; n = 5,769). Latent variable modeling methods were used to construct both the g and TSB factors, and measurement invariance of the two latent factors was tested across five age groupings (ages 6-8, 9-3, 14-19, 20-39, and 40+). Results indicated partial scalar invariance across age groups for both the g and TSB factors. Correlations between the g and TSB factors were moderately strong and statistically significant across all groups. Suggestions for future research that is most likely to advance theory development and scale development related to the relationship between g and TSB are discussed.

Spelling words can be scored using a wide variety of scoring methods that vary in prerequisite phonological knowledge required by the scorer, as well as the complexity of scoring rules used in assigning scores. Two of the simpler spelling word scoring methods (i.e., Words Spelled Correctly and Correct Letter Sequence) typically used by most teachers, school psychologists, and educational diagnosticians were used to score weekly spelling word lists administered to 6 third-grade classrooms, two fourth-grade classrooms, and one combined third-/fourth-grade classrooms in two elementary schools throughout the academic year. Results indicated a high degree of association between scores produced by the scoring methods, as well as significant correlations with annual group achievement test results in the communication arts. Tests for the sensitivity of the Correct Letter Sequence scoring method in detecting improvement across consecutive incorrectly spelled words revealed no significant improvement trend ...

According to Stevens's classification of measurement, continuous data can be either ratio or interval scale data. The relationship between two continuous variables is assumed to be linear and is estimated with the Pearson correlation coefficient, which assumes normality between the variables. If researchers use conventional statistics (t test or analysis of variance) or factor analysis of correlation matrices to study gender or race differences, the data are assumed to be continuous and normally distributed. If continuous data are discretized, they become ordinal; thus, discretization is widely considered to be a downgrading of measurement. However, discretization is advantageous for data analysis, because it provides interactive relationships between the discretized variables and naturally measured categorical variables such as gender and race. Such interactive relationship information between categories is not available with the ratio or interval scale of measurement, but it is useful to researchers in some applications. In the present study, Wechsler intelligence and memory scores were discretized, and the interactive relationships were examined among the discretized Wechsler scores (by gender and race). Unlike in previous studies, we estimated category associations and used correlations to enhance their interpretation, and our results showed distinct gender and racial/ethnic group differences in the correlational patterns.

While patterns of racial/ethnic subgroup differences are important (see previous chapter), variables that influence a wide range of individual differences in clinician/client interactions are equally as important for applied psychologists to understand and appreciate. The term “individual differences” is broadly defined to encompass individual differences in cultural characteristics within racial/ethnic groups, levels of intergroup contact, psychological service setting variables, client characteristics, and psychological services. The chapter ends with a discussion of the appropriateness to which race/ethnicity can be considered “primordial” in clinician/client interactions.

Despite numerous definitional, conceptual, and empirical problems, the construct of cultural competence will not be going away anytime soon in applied psychology training. The content of cultural competence courses for training future psychologists is shaped from a combination of instructor preferences, student expectations/preferences, college/university/departmental needs, program accreditation guidelines/expectations, student course evaluations, and aspirational client outcomes. The chapter outlines an ideal course in cultural competence that allows for discipline-specific training, yet transcends specific disciplines by offering seven broad principles that are an outgrowth of insights gleaned from previous chapters in this text.

This chapter argues that cultural competence advocacy is characterized by a palpable viewpoint bias. This bias is rooted in the distinction between the “unconstrained” versus “constrained” sociopolitical visions as articulated by Sowell (A conflict of visions: ideological origins of political struggles. William Morrow, New York, 1987). This bias has palpable effects on students in graduate school, academic publishing, grant reviews, and professional organizations representing psychology. Seven anonymous interviewees, representing accomplished scholars and/or higher education administrators with backgrounds in school psychology, counseling psychology, clinical psychology, and psychiatry, provide comments related to their experiences with viewpoint bias throughout their professional careers.

The current zeitgeist in applied psychology training portrays the development of cultural competence as a necessary and highly valued component of clinical training. The American Psychological Association (APA) has created guidelines for multicultural education, training, research, practice, and organizational change for psychologists and mandated culturally competent behavior in its Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. If students attending applied psychology training programs are expected to develop cultural competencies, then they must be exposed to structured experiences designed to assist them in this goal. Such experiences include, but certainly are not limited to, didactic classroom instruction. Research on this topic has revealed that studies examining training outcomes have methodological flaws, lack information regarding the specifics of training, implications for trainee benefits are unclear, and trainings have not demonstrated that cultural competency trainings result in improvements for clients. The field as it stands is ripe for the development of evidence-based trainings which should be developed using a clinical science model.

The history and development of cultural competence advocacy is reviewed, beginning with a discussion of its ubiquity across a wide variety of contexts outside of applied psychology and its appearance in the scholarly literature under a wide variety of different names and labels. The chapter reviews common justifications that are often advanced in support of its need as an essential component of applied psychology training. The best available consensus among scholars within applied psychology as to the essential components of cultural competence is also reviewed. A discussion of scholarly attempts to measure and teach the construct within applied psychology is also briefly summarized.

This chapter discusses patterns that are often observed from the study of human differences that can be organized by racial groupings. Debates over the validity of the concept of race are divided into two camps called “race deniers” and “race acknowledgers.” This chapter reviews how concepts about race, racial differences, and racism are discussed within the social sciences, generally, and cultural competence advocacy, specifically.

Historically, the critical evaluation of the cultural competence construct is a movement that parallels its development. A number of critics have described numerous shortcomings of cultural competence theory and advocacy that are so fundamental as to cast serious doubts on its construct validity. The chapter highlights and summarizes criticisms that originate from semantic, logical/conceptual, empirical, philosophical, pedagogical, and best practices perspectives.

The current status of cultural competence advocacy is described within the context of the separate subdisciplines of clinical, school, and counseling psychology. Within each subdiscipline, a brief history of each profession is summarized, followed by a description of the main professional organizations and scholarly outlets that characterize each subdiscipline, a summary of basic roles and functions of practitioners within each subdiscipline, racial/ethnic demographics within each subdiscipline, exposure to racial/ethnic subgroups in practice, and qualitative differences in the nature of cultural competence advocacy within each subdiscipline.

A little over 35 years have passed since the original Larry P. decision was handed down in 1979 by Robert Peckham, a federal judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The “Larry P. case” is a shorthand moniker that refers to a class action lawsuit, supported by the Bay Area Association of Black Psychologists, on behalf of African-American students who are overrepresented in (what were called at that time) Educable Mentally Retarded (EMR) classes in the San Francisco School District. Judge Peckham ruled that standardized individually administered IQ tests used to classify African-American students into EMR programs are culturally biased and banned their use for the placement of African-American students in EMR programs in the state of California. Since this ruling, additional court rulings—as well as intervention by the California Department of Education—have resulted in the complete ban of IQ test administration to African-American students for any special education purpose in California public schools— which continues to the present. California is currently the only state in America in which school psychologists are prohibited from assessing African-American students with IQ tests. This paper reviews key events in the history of this important case and its aftermath and pays particular attention to highlighting the role of the California Association of School Psychologists (CASP) in these events. The article ends with key lessons learned that could be helpful to state school psychology organizations, specifically, and the school psychology profession, generally.

Spearman's hypothesis (SH) is a phrase coined by Arthur Jensen, which posits that the size of Black–White mean differences across a group of diverse mental tests is a positive function of each test's loading onto the general intelligence (g) factor. Initially, a correlated vector (CV) approach was used to examine SH, where the results typically confirmed that the magnitude of g loadings were positively correlated with the size of mean group differences in the observed test scores. The CV approach has been heavily criticized by scholars who have argued that a more precise method for examining SH can be better investigated using a multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MG-CFA). Studies of SH using MG-CFA have been much more equivocal, with results not clearly confirming nor disconfirming SH. In the current study, we argue that a better method for extracting g in both the CV and MG-CFA approaches is to use a bi-factor model. Because non-g factors extracted from a bi-factor approach are independent of g, the bi-factor model allows for a robust examination of the influence of g and non-g factors on group differences on mental test scores. Using co-normed standardization data from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition and the Wechsler Memory Scale-Fourth Edition, we examined SH using both CV and MG-CFA procedures. We found support for the weak form of SH in both methods, which suggests that both g and non-g factors were involved in the observed mean score differences between Black and White adults.

In the first version (of this chapter), which appeared in McCallum (2003), the discussion of nonverbal assessment of academic skills began with an overview of academic skill areas commonly assessed in educational settings (see Frisby 2003, followed by a discussion of the three conditions in which the nonverbal assessment of academic skills is most likely to occur with high frequency. In the first condition, instead of an examiner orally giving directions that require a verbal or behavioral response from the examinee, a respondent (parent, teacher, or other caregiver) observes and records the presence of naturally occurring academic skill behaviors (which may or may not be displayed verbally) by an examinee (e.g., as in tests of adaptive behavior). In the second condition, examinees with disabling conditions that involve severe speech and physical impairments (such as cerebral palsy) are unable to speak or write intelligibly due to a variety of neurological, physical, emotional, and/or cognitive limitations. These individuals need assistive technology (AT) to demonstrate what they know and can do. In the third condition, individuals with some degree of hearing loss may require test instructions to be read directly from print, which are administered by means of a nonverbal sign language. In turn, examinee responses are given either in writing of by nonverbal sign language. Compared to the first previous version of this chapter, this chapter focuses with greater detail on this third condition—i.e., the application of nonverbal assessment issues and practices involving individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing (HOH).

Immigration into the United States is a particularly salient topic of current contemporary educational, social, and political discussions. The school-related needs of immigrant children and youth can be well served by rigorous research and effective school psychology preservice training and preparation. This overview highlights key definitions, demographic statistics, and current resources related to immigration in U.S. society. This special topic section on understanding immigrants, schooling, and school psychology features articles relevant to this important topic. We conclude with a call for this effort to serve as a springboard for future discussions, scholarship, and school psychology training in preparing practitioners for serving children who are immigrants. (PsycINFO Database Record

Two of the most popular methods of profile analysis, cluster analysis and modal profile analysis, have limitations. First, neither technique is adequate when the sample size is large. Second, neither method will necessarily provide profile information in terms of both level and pattern. A new method of profile analysis, called Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling (PAMS; Davison, 1996), is introduced to meet the challenge. PAMS extends the use of simple multidimensional scaling methods to identify latent profiles in a multi-test battery. Application of PAMS to profile analysis is described. The PAMS model is then used to identify latent profiles from a subgroup (N = 357) within the sample of the Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery-Revised (WJ-R; McGrew, Werder, & Woodcock, 1991; Woodcock & Johnson, 1989), followed by a discussion of procedures for interpreting participants' observed score profiles from the latent PAMS profiles. Finally, advantages and limitations of the PAMS technique are d...

In the cognitive test interpretation literature, a Rational/Intuitive, Indirect Empirical, or Combined approach is typically used to construct conceptual taxonomies of the functional (behavioral) similarities between subtests. To address shortcomings of these approaches, the functional requirements for 49 subtests from six individually administered scales of cognitive ability (WISC-IV, WPPSI-III, SB-V, WJ-III, CAS, and UNIT) were typed on index cards. Forty-eight (48) in-service and/or pre-service school psychologists were asked to sort the cards into two, three, five, or eight functionally similar piles. A multidimensional scaling analysis was performed on a 49 × 49 matrix of similarity scores collapsed across all 48 subjects. Three dimensions were extracted from the data: Reproduction of Stimuli Sequences versus Picture Viewing (Dimension 1), Timed Speed versus Untimed Power (Dimension 2), and Verbal versus Performance (Dimension 3). A hierarchical clustering procedure was then applied to the matrix data, and results were compared to previous categorization schemes identified in the test interpretation literature.

This study examined potential differential examiner ratings for a large sample of self-identified Hispanics on the Woodcock Johnson Psychoeducational Battery—Third Edition (WJ-III) Test Session Observation Checklist (TSOC). Both between-group (Hispanics vs. non-Hispanics) and within-group analyses (Hispanics disaggregated by first spoken language, language spoken in the home, and mother's highest educational level) were conducted. Four research hypotheses were tested through 44 analyses. Most comparisons were not statistically significant, and across- and within-group differences had minimal influence in analyses that were statistically significant. The authors conclude that there is no compelling evidence of substantial systematic differences in examiner ratings of Hispanics' test-session behaviors on the WJ-III.

This paper describes the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) parameterization of the Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling (PAMS) model to demonstrate validation of profile pattern hypotheses derived from multidimensional scaling (MDS). Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling (PAMS) is an exploratory method for identifying major profiles in a multi-subtest test battery. Major profile patterns are represented as dimensions extracted from a MDS analysis. PAMS represents an individual observed score as a linear combination of dimensions where the dimensions are the most typical profile patterns present in a population. While the PAMS approach was initially developed for exploratory purposes, its results can later be confirmed in a different sample by CFA. Since CFA is often used to verify results from an exploratory factor analysis, the present paper makes the connection between a factor model and the PAMS model, and then illustrates CFA with a simulated example (that was generated by the PAMS model) and at the same time with a real example. The real example demonstrates confirmation of PAMS exploratory results by using a different sample. Fit indexes can be used to indicate whether the CFA reparameterization as a confirmatory approach works for the PAMS exploratory results.

Modern scale construction techniques have been used to develop scales measuring examiner ratings of examinees’ test session behavior (TSB) on Wechsler and Stanford-Binet intelligence tests. This study analyzes data from the Test Session Observation Checklist (TSOC), a measure developed by post hoc rational analysis, from a portion of the Woodcock Johnson Psychoeducational Battery-Third Edition standardization sample ( N = 5,769). Results indicate (a) most participants are rated as displaying minimal negative test session behaviors, (b) the seven TSOC items are organized into two components (General Impressions and Attention To Task) that explain roughly 54% of the variance in TSOC scores, and (c) race, sex, and age differences in component scores examined with and without covariates are consistent with results from prior TSB research.

Focus group methods for studying opinions and perceptions of school violence are effective for understanding differences among individuals, but cannot report these differences in a concise manner. Traditional quantitative methods for analyzing data from school violence perception surveys allow for the concise reporting of data, but cannot effectively provide information on individual differences. Typically, survey studies report group frequencies separately for individual items and/or subscales, which obscures individual differences. The Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling (PAMS) approach provides a means for researchers to study individual differences in the degree to which a person's data on multivariate instruments correspond with a smaller number of “core” profiles that underlie data. An Attitude Toward School Violence inventory, rooted in Q methodology, was developed to assess participants' attitudes toward statements designed to explain the causes of, or appropriate interventions ...

The relationship between total scores on the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) and the time taken to complete it was investigated in a sample of 16 high school seniors and 131 college undergraduates. Slower test takers obtained significantly higher scores. With performance on a proxy measure for general cognitive ability, the Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices - Set 2 (APM), as a covariate, slower CCTST test-taking time related to higher CCTST scores but not to higher scores on the California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory (CCTDI). Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that APMscores, CCTDIscores, and CCTST completion time explained 43%, 6%, and 3% of the independent variance in total CCTST scores. Implications of these findings for college instruction are discussed.

Based on a replication and modification of an earlier study, 43 Cuban American participants judged 15 fictitious portraits of male adolescents on four rating scales (Scales A to D), as well as judged degrees of cultural similarity or difference among the portraits (Scale E). The portraits reflected a diversity of characteristics related to location of current residence, language spoken, parents’ethnicity, parents’occupation, parents’highest educational levels, family religion, and annual family income. A multidimensional scaling analysis of Scale E data extracted three dimensions: Spanish-Only Speakers/ Non-Spanish Speakers (42% of explained variance), Affluence/Non-Affluence (28% of explained variance), and an uninterpretable dimension (5% of explained variance). In addition, mean portrait ratings on Scale A (Cultural Similarity) and Scale D (Comfort) were correlated significantly with portrait coordinates on the Affluence/Non-Affluence dimension. In a cluster analysis of Scale E data, subgroups of portraits were formed on a variety of cultural traits and not on ethnicity alone.

Citation analysis methods are discussed, particularly as a means of assisting researchers in clarifying formal communication patterns among journals within school psychology. The present study expa...

Multidimensional scaling (MDS) is described as a useful technique for investigating school psychology research questions. A study is described that illustrates the application of nonmetric weighted...

This commentary discusses the concept of “robustness” as a focal point in evaluating controversies surrounding The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life (Herrnstein & Murray...

In almost every objective indicator of academic achievement, African-American children have not achieved parity with whites. The evolution of the “cultural difference” hypothesis (for explaining ac...

(1993). Black Children's Perception of Self: Implications for Educators. The Educational Forum: Vol. 57, No. 2, pp. 146-156.

Since their introduction in America, the theory and techniques of Feuerstein's Learning Potential Assessment Device (LPAD) and the related Instrumental Enrichment (IE) program have enjoyed substantial popularity among some educators. In our view, the reasons for this popularity are based more on philosophical considerations than on technical adequacy. In arguing this position, we critique Feuerstein's theory on semantic, logical, and empirical grounds. It is concluded that evidence casting Feuerstein's approach to dynamic assessment as a serious competitor to “traditional” assessment is not compelling.