The purposes of this study were to determine (a) which tests are most frequently used in the identification of learning disabilities, (b) how knowledgeable specialists are about the technical properties of the tests, (c) how knowledgeable professionals are about interpreting discrepancy scores, and (d) what practices are used to safeguard valid diagnoses when psychometrically inadequate tests are used clinically. A representative sample of learning disabilities teachers (n = 542), school psychologists (n = 130), and speech/language teachers (n = 179) in Colorado was selected and surveyed by questionnaire. Although subjects generally preferred tests with higher reliability and validity, poor tests were still used frequently even when superior substitutes were available. All groups of specialists tended to overrate the tests they used, and generally indicated a lack of familiarity with the psychometric properties of commonly used tests. Although a majority of specialists valued clinical judgment over test scores for diagnosis, substantial numbers appeared to lack knowledge of procedures to ensure the validity of such judgments. One-third to one-half of each specialist group could not correctly interpret ability-achievement score discrepancies.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.