Chapter 3 - Ethical and Legal Issues in Cross-Cultural Assessment

Abstract

This chapter discusses ethical and legal issues in cross-cultural assessment. The chapter highlights the major court cases that forged new practices in the area of psychoeducational assessment and the provision of psychological services for clients from diverse cultural backgrounds. Practices in the areas of assessment, especially in the school setting, have been guided by a legislation that emanated from court decisions intended to address issues of discriminatory assessment, lack of due process, and inappropriate placement of culturally diverse students in classes for the EMR or Emotionally Disabled children. Out of the many efforts to rectify or correct traditional assessment practices that are discriminatory, PL 94-142 (the Education for All Handicapped Children Act) and the subsequent Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendment of 1995 are formed to safeguard the rights of all children and to guarantee free and appropriate education. Although several organizations have developed ethical standards to work with linguistically and culturally diverse children, the inclusion of these standards into their general set of ethical standards have been relatively slow.