Cognitive
Assessment
Diverse Learners
1996: Most common
Tests for Bilinguals
 WISC (mostly done in all
english)
 Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt
 Draw-a-Person
 Leiter
Bias in testing stems
from…
 Cultural content embedded in the
test
 Linguistic demands inherent in any
give test
 Lack of representation within norm
samples
 Changing normative standards to
accommodate perceived language
needs (translating the test)
IQ Tests Measure
 IQ as a construct
 Monocultural ideas of what IQ
means as a construct.
 Cultural impacted ideas of speeded
tests, Working Memory Techniques,
Q&A methods, etc.
 Cultural expectations of the
community that created the test
 Performance of individuals in the
normative groups that are
represented in the sample.
BIAS Definied
 Systematic differences in
performance b/w groups not
attributed to the ability being
measured.
 Bias occurs when tests are given to
diverse individuals who are not
comparable in background,
experiences, and exposure that that
of the individuals comprising the
norm group.
Developmental nature
of test Items
 Test are Developmental/
incremental (easy to Hard)
 Learning English may have begun at a
different developmental point for ELL.
 Students may juggle knowledge b/w L1
and l2 instead of being able to know
just one language well.
 Students may have received fewer
overall hours of exposure to English
language than native English speaker.
Test Validity
 If a test is biased, whatever the
reason, you may be testing something
other than the construct that you
want to examine.
 IQ and Achievement tests should
measure IQ and Achievement and NOT
English Language proficiency!!!
Group Assignment:
representative norms
 What are some of the problems with
using tests that are normed based
on the census data?
 American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian;
Black or African American; Native
Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander;
White; Some Other Race; Hispanic or
Latino
 What are some ways that these
problems can be overcome?
Normative
Stratification
 Stratification in the norm using race
does not equate to stratification
based on culture.
 There are currently no tests that
stratify based on acculturation.
 There are currently no tests that
stratify based on amount of time
exposed to English.
Verbal/Nonverbal Bias
 Bias in nonverbal tests may occur if
the instructions are in English only
 Nonverbal tests not normed using
stratified acculturation and
Language are still biased.
 Bias in many tests are revealed more
in the verbal tasks than in the
nonverbal ones.
 May be due to learning styles of
demonstration, sample, doing instead of
socratic method
 May be due to L1 and L2 differences
Nonverbal Assessment
 Conducted PRIMARILY nonverbally






UNIT
Leiter-R
C-TONI
Nonverbal DAS-2
Nonverbal SB-5
Nonverbal KABC-2
 May still require some minimal
amount of knowledge using
receptive language.
Native Language
Assessment
 Most non-English Normative
measures are in Spanish only.
 Normative Examples Include:
 Batería-III
 Bracken Basic concept Scale: Spanish
Version
 TVIP
 BASC- Spanish Translation
 Vineland- Spanish Translation
 CBM: DIBELS has a Spanish Version
Batería-III Cog
 Norms are based on
monolingual English and
monolingual spanish (Not
bilingual populations)
Bilingual Assessment
 Is not in L1 or L2
but in both
languages
simultaneously
 Requires
knowledge of
 Examinee’s Culture
 Non discriminatory
assessment
 Fluency in L1 and L2
Bilingual Assessment
 Child can Receive Points for
answers in EACH language
 Examples Include:




BVAT
ROWPVT-SBE
EOWPVT-SBE
Some subtests on the KABC-II
Bilingual Verbal Ability
Test (BVAT)
 Comprised of 3 WJ-R Cog subtests
 Picture Vocabulary
 Oral Vocabulary
 Verbal Analogies
 first conducted in English, any items
missed are re-administered in L1
 All correct answers L1 or L2 are
counted toward total score.
 Bilingual Administration, but norms
not sampled considering bilingual
and acculturation issues.
Bilingual Assessment
using BCA-Bil and GIA-Bil
 One attempt to change the scores
on the WJ-III (eng or Spa) into a
bilingual measure (instead of 2
monolingual measures) includes the
creation of the BCA-Bil and the GIABil.
 These scores attempt to combine the
benefits of BVAT and WJ-III (Eng or
Spa), but have serious psychometric
issues
 Also, since the same samples are
used, this problem is not fixed.
KABC-II
 Demonstration of KABC-II as
Bilingual Assessment Measure.
WJ-III Cultural and
Language Loading
Low
Mod.
High
Low
Spat. Rel.
Vis. Match
Num. Rev.
Concept Form.
Analy/syn
Aud. Wk Mem.
Mod
Pic Rec
Planning
Pair Cancel
Vis/Aud learn Mem. Word
Retrieval Flu. Incomp. Wrds
Rapid pic Name Sound Blend
Aud. Atten
Decis. Speed
High
Verbal Comp.
Gen. info.
Impact Cultural and
Language Loading
Low
Low
Mod.
High
Performance
Least
Affected
Increasing
effect of
Language Diff.
Increasing
Effect of
Cultural
Diff.
Performance
Most Affected
(lang. and
Culture)
Mod
High
Group Project:
Low
Mod.
High
Low
Mod
High
List subtests where you think they should go: UNIT, RIAS
Assessment
 Consider the
information
presented as a
Guideline.
 use all available
data collection
techniques that
are needed until
you have your
answer.
 Multiple sources
should always be
considered.
Factors To Consider In
Assessment
 Current grade of the student
 Mode of assessment




Reduced culture/ language
Native language
English
Bilingual
 Current and previous types of
educational programs
 Students language proficiency in
both L1 and L2 (and L3 if applicable)
MAMBI
 MAMBI = Multidimensional
assessment model for bilingual
individuals
 This model Guides choices of
assessments looking at all factors
of consideration.
 Pgs. 149 and171of your textbook
are needed to review this model.
Note about MAMBI
 This table only addresses through
7th grade.
 Thought is that if starting school in US
after 7th grade, then student should
have CALP in l1 by then
 Background information on previous
education is CRUCIAL!
 Consider assessment based on CALP and
background information.
Group Project
 Consider these profiles and
determine types of testing.
 Spanish Speaking 3rd grade child in ESL
only; language profile 2
 French Speaking 8th grade child in
bilingual education, language profile 3
 Indigenous Native American Language
Speaking Kindergarten Child in ESL only;
Language profile 1
 Given the paucity of non English and
Non Spanish assessments, what are
some problems you see.