SCHOOL-PSYCHOLOGISTS ASSESSMENT PRACTICES WITH BILINGUAL AND LIMITED-ENGLISH-PROFICIENT STUDENTS

This study, a survey oi 859 National Association of School Psychologis t (NASP) members from eight stares, identified school psychologists' a ssessment practices with bilingual and limited-English-proficient (LEP ) students and compared test usage frequencies between English-only an d bilingual psychoeducational assessment. Cognitive, achievement, and adaptive behavior domains were examined. In the area of cognitive asse ssment, the WISC-R or WISC-III administered in English only was the me asure most frequently used. Moreover, the use of nonverbal intelligenc e tests appeared to be a common practice. With respect to achievement testing in English and Spanish, the Woodcock instruments were used by approximately three-fourths of the respondents. Curriculum-based asses sment was employed significantly more often in bilingual psychoeducati onal assessment than in traditional English-only assessment. For asses sing adaptive behavior, 90% of the sample used at least one of the Vin eland Adaptive Behavior Survey Scales. Across all three domains, there was much more diversity in test usage in bilingual psychoeducational assessment in comparison to assessment conducted with English-speaking pupils. An evaluation of and recommendations for assessment practices with LEP and bilingual students art: provided.