Progress or Setback: Revisiting the Current State of Assessment Practices of Black Children

Abstract

The Larry P. v. Riles case highlighted the disproportional representation of Black students in special education and called for the need of fair and nondiscriminatory psychological and educational evaluations. Despite the longstanding ban of the use of cognitive assessments with Black children in the state of California, Black children continue to be overrepresented in special education across the USA and are more likely to receive subpar educational services and supports O'Connor and Fernandez (Educational Researcher 35(6):6–11, 2006); Graves and Ye (Journal of Black Psychology 43(2):192–213, 2017). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine current evaluation practices with Black children and to assess how current school psychologists account for cultural biases during the assessment process. School psychologists who practice in urban, suburban, and rural districts were surveyed regarding their demographic profiles, preparedness for assessing Black students, and current assessment practices. Results indicated several notable issues regarding the use of cognitive assessments with Black students including culturally bias test content and disproportionality.