Toward Equity in School-Based Assessment: Incorporating Collaborative/Therapeutic Techniques to Redistribute Power

Abstract

Psychoeducational assessment has been used as a tool to sort children into academic tracks based on children’s presumed capabilities. Historically, such tracking was based on measures that sought to legitimize racist assumptions about the capabilities of children of color. Despite legal mandates and changes to practice intended to correct these injustices, children of color continue to be disproportionately sorted into less rigorous academic tracks largely based on assessment results. This article draws from the collaborative/therapeutic assessment model to propose how these techniques can increase equity and fairness in school-based assessments through shared power in the assessment relationship. We assert that a collaborative/therapeutic approach can contribute to children’s and families’ positive experience of assessment, and we encourage further research on these techniques to determine how they may contribute to more equitable school outcomes. We conclude with a rationale for how these techniques advance the goals of school psychology. Impact Statement This paper significantly contributes to correcting the pervasive problems that exist in how school psychologists conduct psychoeducational assessments, particularly with children and families of color. Considering that the school psychology profession is overwhelmingly White, and that racial disproportionality in special education referrals and placements is an entrenched injustice in the field, there is an urgent need for the inclusion of new techniques to more fairly assess and serve children and families of color. The collaborative/therapeutic assessment techniques described here offer concrete ways for school psychologists to work toward the ideals put forth in NASP’s School Psychology Unified Antiracism Statement and Call to Action. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2021.1997060 .