The purpose of this study was to answer the question, "Do British Columbia school psychologists use a multifaceted approach to assess English As A Second Language students?" Another purpose of the study was to measure the prevailing procedures used to psychologically assess ESL students in British Columbia school districts. A data collection design was developed that consisted of a mailed self-administered questionnaire that was to be completed by all of the school districts in British Columbia. The questionnaire items were grouped in 3 separate sections - The first section (4 items) of the questionnaire requested personal and demographic information. The second section (35 items) asked participants to indicate on a 4 point Likert scale (always(1) - usually(2) -sometimes(3) - never(4)) the techniques and testing instruments they used during the psychological assessment of an ESL student. These techniques and instruments were selected from the literature outlining multifaceted assessments and included (a) the use of tests translated into the student's L I, and the assessment of the student's L 1, (b) reference to peers and siblings, (c) use of translators, (d) parental involvement, (e) number of years in an English - speaking school system before assessment, (f) use of norm-referenced standardized tests, (g) assessment of the student’s social/cultural/linguistic background, and (h) an awareness of the bias found in widely used tests, and the use of test results to prescribe treatment. The third section (open-ended) invited the participants to briefly describe the guidelines, if any, that their district followed to distinguish learning English As A Second Language difficulties from cognitive processing problems. The results revealed that many B.C. school psychologists involved in the assessment of ESL students are cognizant of the linguistic/ socio/cultural bias found in norm-referenced standardized tests and, as a result, are not extensively administering tests such as the WISC-R to ESL students, nor are they relying exclusively on the test scores to prescribe treatment for ESL students. Moreover, many psychologists are using peers and siblings to establish more realistic norms. Many of the psychologists are assessing the students' academic records (when available) and health records, and involving the ESL students' parents in the assessment process. The data also indicated that several phases of a multifaceted assessment need to be addressed by many of the school psychologists in British Columbia that are involved in the assessment of ESL students. These include: 1)the assessment of the students' L 1, and the use (when appropriate) of standardized tests translated into the student's L 1 2)involving trained translators in the interview and assessment of ESL students, and the interview of the students' parents 3) measuring the students' current level of functioning with 'dynamic' assessment and adaptive behaviour measurement (such as Feurerstein's Learning Potential Assessment Device) 4) involving the students' classroom teacher in the assessment through the use of anecdotal reporting 5) understanding that it takes at least five years, on the average, for an immigrant child who arrives in the host country after the age of six to approach grade norms in L2 Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency. This study has revealed the wide range of psychological assessment procedures currently employed by British Columbia school psychologists. Some psychologists are utilizing all of the data at their disposal to accurately assess ESL students, while others are employing practices that may produce inaccurate and misleading results. In this regard, this study has established a need for valid multifaceted psychological assessment of ESL students procedures to be adapted by all of British Columbia's 75 school psychologists.

Submitted by PAULO ROBERTO CARDOSO PEREIRA JÚNIOR (paulocardoso.ppp@gmail.com) on 2018-03-21T19:05:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO FINAL DE PAULO CARDOSO MARÇO DE 2018.pdf: 1562090 bytes, checksum: 22bd104aba5d0af6d449653f47d6cdd9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Auxiliadora da Silva Lopes (silopes@ufba.br) on 2018-03-22T14:21:54Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO FINAL DE PAULO CARDOSO MARÇO DE 2018.pdf: 1562090 bytes, checksum: 22bd104aba5d0af6d449653f47d6cdd9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-03-22T14:21:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO FINAL DE PAULO CARDOSO MARÇO DE 2018.pdf: 1562090 bytes, checksum: 22bd104aba5d0af6d449653f47d6cdd9 (MD5) / A presente pesquisa está situada no campo das práticas psicológicas demandadas pela Justiça e aplicadas em adolescentes e jovens em conflito com a lei. Partimos das políticas de privação de liberdade de crianças e adolescentes no Brasil, que teve seu marco histórico com a promulgação do Código de Menores de 1927, e depois a sua reformulação em 1979, até o cidadão, tendo sua origem na promulgação do Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente, o ECA. Sendo assim, este trabalho teve como objetivo compreender a atuação da (o) psicóloga (o) que acompanha adolescentes e jovens em cumprimento de medidas socioeducativas em uma instituição de internação no Estado da Bahia. Para tal, foi realizada uma pesquisa qualitativa, utilizando-se como recursos metodológicos a análise documental e entrevistas semidirigidas com profissionais de psicologia. O referencial teórico adotado foi a Psicologia Escolar e Educacional em uma perspectiva crítica, que compreende o contexto institucional como uma síntese de múltiplas determinações. Foram levantados 94 relatórios de 24 adolescentes em cumprimento de medida socioeducativa de internação. Foram encontradas, a partir da análise dos relatórios, informações familiares, educacionais, profissionais, sobre o uso de drogas lícitas e ilícitas e sobre o parecer técnico indicado pela equipe que acompanha os adolescentes. Análise das entrevistas destaca as dificuldades vivenciadas pelas profissionais de Psicologia, relacionadas ao fato de a instituição não ter fornecido formação para o trabalho; a formação acadêmica pouco contribuiu para o trabalho na instituição; dificuldades de implementação do ECA e do SINASE e a ausência de um trabalho voltado para o acompanhamento familiar. Por fim, este trabalho indica a necessidade de incluir, tanto na formação básica dos cursos de Psicologia quanto na formação dos técnicos da instituição a temática da atenção ao adolescente e o jovem em conflito com a lei. / ABSTRACT This research is situated in the field of psychological practices required by the Federal Justice and it is applied in adolescents and young people in conflict with the law. We started the research with the policies of deprivation of liberty of children and adolescents in Brazil, which had its historical milestone with the promulgation of the Juvenile Code of 1927, and then its reformulation in 1979, to the citizen, having its origin in the promulgation of the Child and Youth Statute (ECA). Therefore, this study aimed to understand the performance of the psychologist who attends adolescents and young people in compliance with socio-educational measures in a care institution in the State of Bahia. For that purpose, a qualitative research was carried out, using documental analysis and semi-structured interviews with psychologists. The theoretical framework applied was School and Educational Psychology, which understands the institutional context as a fusion of multiple interactions. A total of 94 reports were collected from 24 adolescents in compliance with socio-educational measures in a care institution. Reports analysis revealed family, educational and professional data, the reports also revealed information about the use of legal and illegal drugs and the technical report prepared by the team that attended the adolescents. Interviews analysis highlights the struggles experienced by psychologists, which is related to the fact that the institution did not provide training for work; the academic formation did not contribute much to the work in the institution; difficulties in the implementation of ECA and SINASE and the lack of work aimed at family follow-up. Finally, this work indicates the need to include; the theme of attention to adolescents and young people in conflict with the law; both the basic training of psychologists and the training of technicians that work in care institutions for young people in conflict with the law.

The purpose of this study was to answer the question, "Do British Columbia school psychologists use a multifaceted approach to assess English As A Second Language students?" Another purpose of the study was to measure the prevailing procedures used to psychologically assess ESL students in British Columbia school districts. A data collection design was developed that consisted of a mailed self-administered questionnaire that was to be completed by all of the school districts in British Columbia. The questionnaire items were grouped in 3 separate sections - The first section (4 items) of the questionnaire requested personal and demographic information. The second section (35 items) asked participants to indicate on a 4 point Likert scale (always(1) - usually(2) -sometimes(3) - never(4)) the techniques and testing instruments they used during the psychological assessment of an ESL student. These techniques and instruments were selected from the literature outlining multifaceted assessments and included (a) the use of tests translated into the student's L I, and the assessment of the student's L 1, (b) reference to peers and siblings, (c) use of translators, (d) parental involvement, (e) number of years in an English - speaking school system before assessment, (f) use of norm-referenced standardized tests, (g) assessment of the student’s social/cultural/linguistic background, and (h) an awareness of the bias found in widely used tests, and the use of test results to prescribe treatment. The third section (open-ended) invited the participants to briefly describe the guidelines, if any, that their district followed to distinguish learning English As A Second Language difficulties from cognitive processing problems. The results revealed that many B.C. school psychologists involved in the assessment of ESL students are cognizant of the linguistic/ socio/cultural bias found in norm-referenced standardized tests and, as a result, are not extensively administering tests such as the WISC-R to ESL students, nor are they relying exclusively on the test scores to prescribe treatment for ESL students. Moreover, many psychologists are using peers and siblings to establish more realistic norms. Many of the psychologists are assessing the students' academic records (when available) and health records, and involving the ESL students' parents in the assessment process. The data also indicated that several phases of a multifaceted assessment need to be addressed by many of the school psychologists in British Columbia that are involved in the assessment of ESL students. These include: 1)the assessment of the students' L 1, and the use (when appropriate) of standardized tests translated into the student's L 1 2)involving trained translators in the interview and assessment of ESL students, and the interview of the students' parents 3) measuring the students' current level of functioning with 'dynamic' assessment and adaptive behaviour measurement (such as Feurerstein's Learning Potential Assessment Device) 4) involving the students' classroom teacher in the assessment through the use of anecdotal reporting 5) understanding that it takes at least five years, on the average, for an immigrant child who arrives in the host country after the age of six to approach grade norms in L2 Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency. This study has revealed the wide range of psychological assessment procedures currently employed by British Columbia school psychologists. Some psychologists are utilizing all of the data at their disposal to accurately assess ESL students, while others are employing practices that may produce inaccurate and misleading results. In this regard, this study has established a need for valid multifaceted psychological assessment of ESL students procedures to be adapted by all of British Columbia's 75 school psychologists. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

No description available.

This research was an investigation of three domains identified through a thorough review of the literature as fundamental to the equitable implementation of Response to Intervention (RtI) with English language learners (ELLs): (1) degree of intercultural sensitivity of educators involved in the RtI process, (2) training of educators in implementation of RtI with ELLs, and (3) educator familiarity with empirically-based interventions for use with ELLs. The validity of using RtI with ELLs has been questioned by both supporters and detractors of the model (Linan-Thompson & Ortiz, 2009). The most fundamental tenets of RtI are predicated upon the use of empirically validated interventions and the application of culturally responsive educational practices that provide equitable learning opportunities for all students. Due to the critical role of school psychologists in the development and implementation of RtI models, a questionnaire was designed for use with this population to explore the three domains delineated above. The Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS; Chen & Starosta, 2000) was used to document participants' degree of intercultural sensitivity. Additional questions addressing domains two and three strategically juxtaposed participants' experiences with and perceptions regarding RtI with native English speakers versus RtI with ELLs. Through a series of eight research questions and the associated analyses, the following conclusions were reached: (1) Statistically significantly higher mean scores on the ISS were present among those respondents who identified themselves as Hispanic/Latino/Spanish and/or fluent in more than one language; (2) Statistically significant differences were documented in participants' responses to items focused on perceptions of training for implementing RtI with native English speakers versus training for implementing RtI with ELLs; and (3) Statistically significant differences were found in participants' responses to items inquiring about perceptions of familiarity with empirically-based interventions for use within an RtI framework with native English speakers in comparison to ELLs. Taken together, and in conjunction with a qualitative analysis of two open-ended questions, these results suggest the presence of considerable delays in school psychologists' training and perceptions of preparedness to implement RtI with a linguistically diverse population as compared to native English speakers. This outcome is disconcerting, given the emphasis throughout the literature on the importance of unique considerations required to implement RtI equitably with ELLs. Recommendations for practice and future research are provided that emphasize the need for additional research and training in implementing RtI with a linguistically diverse population.