Ethical Issues in Psychological Assessment in School Settings Linda K' Knauss

1
Ethical Issues in Psychological Assessment in
School SettingsLinda K. Knauss

• Ed Cruz, Melissa Guzman, Nicole Murph, Gabriela
  Pelaez

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Most Frequent Ethical Issues Psychologists
Confront

• 1) Process of parental consent and involvement.
• 2) Obligation to select nonbiased test
  instruments and use them in a way that is not
  racially or culturally biased.
• 3) Appropriate administration and interpretation
  of projective tests in school settings.
• 4) Use of computerized psychological assessment.

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Where Ethical Dilemmas Arise From

• Dilemmas arise from needs.
• Psychologists need to aware of ethical standards.

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Informed Consent

• Hot Ethical Issue
• Definition
• Consent requires affirmative permission before
  actions can be taken (Knauss, 2001).

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Informed Consent (Cont)

• Elements of Informed Consent Agreements
• Must be presented in a clear and understandable
  manner to both the student parent.
• Reason for the test administration.
• tests and evaluations procedures to be used.
• How assessment scores will be used.
• Who will have access to the results.

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Informed Consent (Cont)

• Written informed consent must be obtained from
  the students parents, guardian or the student
  (if he or she has already reached legal age).

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Informed Consent

• For students who have an educational disability

• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
  (IDEA).
• School mediation.

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Parents Informed Consent

• Initial contact with parents the school is
  crucial.
• Conveying results to the parents is extremely
  important.
• Parents, guardians and students must share in the
  autonomy of making treatment decisions.

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Nondiscriminatory Assessment

• DefinitionLarry P. V Riles.
• Psychologists are obligated to be culturally
  sensitive in administering tests to pupils.

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Nondiscriminatory Assessment

• Impact of assessing pupils without utilizing
  their native language.
• Impact of discrepancies caused by translators.

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Nondiscriminatory Assessment

• Effects of cultural factors on test performance.
• What can a psychologist do to obtain valid
  results of the pupil?

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Nondiscriminatory Assessment

• The need to separate personality issues from
  language issues.
• Ensure pupils ability to read prior to test
  administration.
• Is language the root of the pupils academic
  problems?

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Nondiscriminatory Assessment

• The importance of carefully selecting testing
  instruments
• test bias
• fair and appropriate instruments
• Implications of using biased tests

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Factors that determine the use of Projective
Assessment

• No definite answer about using projective tests
  for evaluating students.
• What will they gain from the projective test?
• Questioning the appropriateness of the testing
  instrument.

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Projective Personality Assessment

• A problem with informed consent
• Responding to questions
• Questions in the informed consent procedure
• Confidentiality
• Access of school records

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Projective Personality Assessment

• Concern with unwarranted invasion of privacy in
  projective testing.
• Questions in projective testing
• Student responses

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Projective Personality Assessment

• Other concerns
• Examiner competence
• Adequate training
• Supervised experience
• competent of emotional issues
• Test validity
• Determining validity and its usefulness

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Computerized Psychological Testing

• Ethical issues in the use of computerized
  testing
• accountability for the psychological assessment.
• appropriate application, interpretation, and use
  of assessment instruments.
• disparity between automated report and the
  psychologists clinical impression of the client.

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Computerized Psychological Testing

• Individuality of computer report v. hand written
  report.
• should not be use to extend the boundaries of
  ones competence
• Test administration procedures and supervision of
  assistants.
• familiarity with the instruments to be used.

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Computerized Psychological Testing

• Questions regarding the validity of
  computer-assisted assessment
• lack of demonstrated validity for the printed
  interpretations they generate.
• test developer should establish validity and
  reliability of the test and resulting
  interpretations should be done with a
  professional review.
• A school psychologist should review and edit the
  narrative report done by the computer, so that it
  is specific to the individual who was tested.

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Computerized Psychological Testing

• Computer programs are not a substitute for
  supervision because they are not designed to
  teach testing skills to the individual who uses
  these programs.
• must be used in conjunction with the clinical
  judgment of well-trained professionals
• psychologists are responsible in determining
  whether the test results are valid for a
  particular individual

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Our Thoughts

• What we found particularly interesting
• -This article was not argumentative.
• sending a note home is not informed consent.
• inadequate training of psychologists in the use
  of projective techniques.
• interns sign computer generated reports and file
  them in a students permanent record.
• Problems with the article
• the author did not make a strong case on how to
  use non-bias in testing.

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Thank You for your time

• Any questions, comments or concerns?

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Discussion

• The author discussed a lot about the
  creditability of school psychologists, but what
  do you think about the creditability of teachers,
  since they are the first to interact with the
  students (i.e. being trained in recognizing
  students who may have an educational disability)?
  
• Which ethical issue do you feel contributes the
  most to inaccurate assessment?

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Reference

• Knauss, L.K. (2001). Ethical issues in
  psychological assessment in school settings.
  Journal of Personality Assessment 77(2), 231-241.