Examining the Importance of Rooting out Bias Through Culturally Responsive Clinical Judgement When Assessing Black Children

Abstract

In response to national attention regarding issues of racial injustice facing Black Americans, education has been highlighted as a field that has systematically operated in a way that has been detrimental to Black children in the form of underfunding, segregated schools, discriminatory discipline policies, and disproportionate placement in special education. While current estimates indicate a narrowing of the achievement gap, also referred to as opportunity gap, a large difference remains regarding how Black students perform on standardized tests when compared to their White counterparts. According to the Education Opportunity Project at Stanford University (Reardon et al., 2019), the differences in standardized test scores are reported to amount to a deficit of approximately two academic years for Black students. While racial disparities in education are a longstanding issue, greater focus on dismantling structural inequity is required for Black students to have equal access to quality education. To accomplish this goal, educational professionals across all disciplines must examine their practices through an

Can clinical judgement overcome flawed materials when assessing black children: The need for more intervention-based pedagogy and less assessment negligence

“…The aforementioned research would seem to support Aston et al’ (2022) contention that Culturally Relevant Clinical Judgement is needed to help support Black students, especially given the problematic use of cognitive testing. Nonetheless, there are also issues with the exclusive use of RtI for disability identification.…”

“…Aston et al’ (2022) concept of Culturally Relevant Clinical Judgement has the potential to move the field of school psychology forward as it relates to Black children. Aston and colleagues, like Albert Beckham and the first generation of Black psychologists, do not discourage the use of intelligence tests with Black children but rather encourage the use of Culturally Relevant Clinical Judgement making when making decisions.…”

“…In their article, Aston et al (2022) focus on how Culturally Relevant Clinical Judgment could potentially improve the assessment practices of school psychologists in relation to evaluating Black children for special education eligibility. This research is timely given the fractured nature of assessment practices and divergent views of school psychologists in regard to what constitutes appropriate psychoeducational practice and disability identification procedures.…”

“…As such, the research by Aston et al (2022) presents an interesting concept, given extremely divergent views in the field of school psychology. In the following paragraphs, I will discuss issues related to how clinical judgement has been exercised when it comes to Black populations.…”

Introduction: Revisiting Albert Sidney Beckham

“…Similar to research conducted by Beckham (1933a), the next article in this issue is by Aston et al (2022) discuss the importance of Culturally Responsive Clinical Judgement when conducting assessment with Black children. As a commentary to Aston et al (2022), Graves (2022) discusses the limits of clinical judgement in light of the disparate outcomes involved with psychologists conduct assessment with Black children and the limits of alternative assessment methods (i.e., response-to-intervention).…”