*HT-820 Introduction to Psychoeducational Assessment
Jennifer Marie Thomson
This course introduces the conceptual, practical, ethical, and legal issues related to psychoeducational assessment of school-age children and adolescents. Topics include discussion of standards for educational testing (e.g., validity, reliability, norming, test development, avoidance of cultural bias) and general guidelines for selections of particular types of assessment methods for individual children (e.g., standardized test, direct observation, questionnaire, interview). Special emphasis will be placed on the contributions and limitations of tests for students with learning difficulties, particularly in language and literacy. Supervised clinical practice in screening, assessment, and diagnosis in the Cambridge Public Schools and selected therapeutic settings will provide students with experience in the oral and written communication of assessment results to parents, teachers, and other professionals. Requirements include individual readings and written clinical reports. Enrollment is limited; permission of the instructor is required. This course is required for master's students in the Language and Literacy Program for licensure.
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Prerequisite: Understanding of basic statistics/test construction, and background knowledge in language and reading development.