Critically Thinking About Ethics and Assessment Essay

1. The four critical areas that are addressed in these standards include developing and selecting appropriate tests, administering and scoring tests, reporting and interpreting test results, and informing test takers. The two focus groups are the test developers and test users. Test developers are people and organizations that construct tests and set policies for testing programs while test users are those who select and administer tests, commission test development services, and make decisions based on the test scores. As a future teacher, counselor, or social worker, I think that I would fit the definition of test users because I would be conducting tests and making decisions from the results of the tests. 2. I believe that the most important issue among the guidelines for appropriate psychological assessment when it comes to children and adolescents would be 9. 03-b. It states, â€Å"Psychologists inform persons with questionable capacity to consent or for whom testing is mandated by law or governmental regulations about the nature and purpose of the proposed assessment services, using language that is reasonably understandable to the person being assessed. † This is important because young people who would undergo testing need to understand clearly what they are about to go through, as well as the reasons as to why they need to be assessed. They need to be talked to in a language and level where they can make a decision whether or not to give consent to the assessment. 3. The first guideline, which is â€Å"Protection Against High-Stakes Decisions Based on a Single Test† is important because it states that students should have the protection of not being judged based on a single test score. A single test score does not prove that much and students should be evaluated based on a series of tests. It is only fair that they be given multiple chances to prove what they are capable of as students. 4. In the â€Å"Screening and Assessment of Young English-Language Learners,† it is stated that the role of the family in the assessment of young English-language learners is important. Young students need the support that they can get from their families so that they can become confident in learning the language. Aside from this, it is also important for professionals to inform the families of the students’ improvements.