The purpose of this paper is to outline state of the art procedures for test translation, validation and use in multicultural, multilingual assessment. Guidelines are based on psychometric, linguistic, cultural and practical considerations. The authors encourage sound practice within the international psychological community in its assessment of children outside the intended source language and/or culture of available tests.

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Developed in concert with the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA), this White Paper regarding specific learning disabilities identification and intervention represents the expert consensus of 58 accomplished scholars in education, psychology, medicine, and the law. Survey responses and empirical evidence suggest that five conclusions are warranted: 1) The SLD definition should be maintained and the statutory requirements in SLD identification procedures should be strengthened; 2) neither ability-achievement discrepancy analysis nor failure to respond to intervention alone is sufficient for SLD identification; 3) a “third method” approach that identifies a pattern of psychological processing strengths and weaknesses, and achievement deficits consistent with this pattern of processing weaknesses, makes the most empirical and clinical sense; 4) an empirically-validated RTI model could be used to prevent learning problems, but comprehensive evaluations should occur for SLD identification purposes, and children with SLD need individualized interventions based on specific learning needs, not merely more intense interventions; and 5) assessment of cognitive and neuropsychological processes should be used for both SLD identification and intervention purposes.

Serious evaluation of preschool instruments has been limited in part by the lack of standard technical adequacy criteria. This article suggests minimal levels of technical adequacy for subtest and total test internal consistency, stability, floors, subtest item gradients, and validity. Ten commonly used preschool instruments (5 used for placement purposes and 5 used for general skills testing) were evaluated according to the proposed criteria, and suggestions were made that concerned the use of the instruments. The principal recommendation made is that practitioners carefully select instruments for preschool assessment according to the instruments' technical adequacy.