A questionnaire regarding PL 94-142 and its effects upon the practice of school psychology was developed and mailed to 389 members of the National Association of School Psychologists. Information regarding professional training, years of experience, and type of service system was obtained for the purpose of various group comparisons. Age, sex, number of years of experience, and type of service system were specifically chosen for statistical analysis. Overall results suggested two relatively divergent views expressed by practitioners. The first was the stated belief that school psychology will become much more closely tied to the field of special education, while an alternative opinion was that the field will remain as diverse as the systems it serves.

The importance of accurate cognitive assessment and its relationship to effective instructional programming are discussed. Traditional methods of test administration are less than optimally sensitive to the cognitive abilities and processes under investigation. A disparity between competence and performance can occur across a variety of populations due to task and situational demands, as well as to motivational and personality factors. Recent approaches aimed at lessening the gap between competence and performance are discussed, along with their strengths and weaknesses.