An investigation of school psychology training pertaining to bilingual psycho-educational assessment of primarily hispanic students: Twenty-five years after Diana v. California

Abstract

This study, a survey of 1,507 school psychologists from eight states, found that school psychologists who conduct bilingual psycho-educational assessment do not believe that they have received adequate training. Nearly 70% of the respondents described their training with respect to knowledge of cross-cultural issues involved in bilingual psycho-educational assessment as less than adequate. At least 80% stated their level of training was less than adequate on the following three competencies: (a) knowledge of second language acquisition factors and their relationship to assessment; (b) knowledge of methods to conduct bilingual psycho-educational assessment; and (c) ability to interpret the results of bilingual psycho-educational assessments. The data indicate that school psychologists who do conduct bilingual psycho-educational assessment are providing service in an area in which they have not received adequate training. In evaluating the school psychology programs from which they received their training, respondents identified only one program that provided adequate training in all four competencies, two that provided adequate training in three competencies, and four programs that provided adequate training in two competencies. The regression analyses indicated that the amount of training provided by school psychology programs did not differ greatly across the 24 years examined in any of the four competencies.