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A Coalition of Supporters Joined the Plaintiffs 5/20/13 A Brief History of the Larry P. Case, Elliot, 1987 • Larry P. was a class action suit against the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) in 1971. IQ Testing of African Americans: • Five Black children were selected to represent the class from a list of 20; all had been labeled retarded by the SFUSD, and A Review and Update were assigned to Educable Mental Retarded(EMR) classes. • D.L., age 12, became the famous Larry P.; he scored 59 on a Larry P.: A Brief History Weschsler test given by a school psychologist, but 94 when retested by Dr. Gerald West, an ABPsi Black psychologist. By William Thomas, Ph.D. • Black parents sued because their children had been 44th ABPsi Annual International Convention inappropriately classified and placed in EMR classes based Los Angeles, California on tests that purportedly measured intelligence. African July 17th - 22nd, 2012 Americans were disproportionately labeled EMR (In the SFUSD there were-28.5% African American children in General Education; and -66% in EMR classes!) Drs. West, Pierce and Dent Departed From A Coalition of Supporters Standard Administration of the Weschler Joined the Plaintiffs • Examples of test questions and accepted answers from DL • Dr. West: How are scissors and a copper pan alike? > Representatives of Bay Area ABPsi • DL: Both iron • Dr. West: What is meant by the word nonsense? > The Association of Black Social Workers • DL: Acting bad > The Urban League • Dr. West: Why should “criminals” be locked up? Rephrased because DL didn’t understand the term criminal, i.e., Criminals are people who sometimes break the law. > Lawyers from the NAACP Defense Fund REASON FOR REPHRASING: “If the purpose of psychological testing is to tap > Neighbor Legal Assistance psychological function and if by asking a child a question different than the way it is posed in the manual affords me to tap that function, then that appears to be > Parents, teachers, and concerned much more important to me than …mentioning every word listed in the manual,” said Dr. West. community people Larry P. Case Decided October 16, 1979 Prohibited Assessments • In 1979, the Court ruled in favor of plaintiffs • Is the measure a standardized IQ test • SFUSD was prohibited from using IQ tests to (does it measure mental ability, place students in EMR classes or their “substantial” equivalent aptitude, or global ability)? • The decision was upheld on appeal in 1984 • Are results reported in the form of IQ • Subsequently the Court expanded the ruling or mental age, i.e., MA/CA? by banning the use of IQ testing for all African American students for any special education • Is the test correlated with an IQ test purpose in California (construct validity)? (Note that one’s IQ is different from one’s intelligence). 1 5/20/13 What is an IQ Score? What is Intelligence? An intelligence quotient, or IQ, is a score derived from one of several standardized tests designed to assess intelligence. • According to Greenfield (1998), intelligence is the ability to acquire competence through The abbreviation "IQ" comes from the German term learning, socialization, and development in Intelligenz-Quotient,originally coined by each of the following: (a) technology, (b) psychologist William Stern. linguistic communication, (c) social Wikepedia organization, facets that vary from culture to culture. In other words, cultures define intelligence by what is adaptive in their particular social or cultural milieu. Description of Noncognitive Intelligence Variables Psychology, IQ Testing, and Racism 1. Realistic Self Appraisal Demonstrates confidence, strength of character, “Psychology and anthropology were bedfellows during the golden age of racism; and independence both searched for, and consequently 2. Understands and knows How to Handle Racism magnified, the existence of racial differences, 3. Prefers Long-Term to Short-Term or Immediate goals mental abilities, and character traits among the peoples of the world. Their zest and zeal 4. Availability of Strong Support Person reinforced prevailing western mythologies of 5. Successful Leadership Experience racial superiority and resultant exploitation of 6. Demonstrated Community Service non-white peoples.” Guthrie, 1976 7. Knowledge in or About a Field Racial Differences The Bell Curve 2 5/20/13 Trial Commenced on Nov. 24, 1977 Why Average IQ Scores Vary by Race Witnesses for the Plaintiffs and the Defense • “Deficit theory” explanation of differences: • Plaintiff’s witnesses who were ABPsi members: Intelligence is fixed within individuals and across – Drs. Asa Hilliard, – Reginald L. Jones, generations; IQ test accurately measure this fixed – Gerald West, core of mental ability; IQ tests are equally valid – William Pierce, across racial, ethnic, and cultural groups, the – and Harold Dent. environment plays little or no role in determining individuals’ level of intelligence. • Defense witnesses: – Wilson Riles, State Superintendent of Education, – Lloyd Humphreys, Ph.D., president of the American • “Difference theory”explanation of differences: Ones Psychological Association, environment – nutrition, lead intake, breast feeding, – Nadine Lambert, Ph.D., Chair the school psychology program at the University of California, Berkeley. home environment, test bias, cultural differences. 2010 SFUSD Special They Still Don’t Get It Education Enrollment Data • In 1969, 28.5% of students enrolled in the SFUSD were • According to a 2010 SFUSD Community Advisory Committee Black, but 58% of the students in EMR classes were for Special Education, although only 12.3 % of the 55,170 Black; in the same year , 9.1% of all students in public school district population is African American, African schools in the State of California were black, but 27% of Americans represent 23.6 % of students receiving special all students in EMR classes in the state were Black. education services and 49.3 % of students categorized with • In 2007 Black students represented 12% of all students Emotional Disturbance (ED). enrolled in the public schools of California, while 11% of all students enrolled in Special Education MR classes in the state were Black. But, the category of ED • Because ED is not a psychiatric diagnosis, people making (Emotionally Disturbed) had a vastly disproportionate the identification do not have to be doctors or psychiatrists. number of Black students. For example, of the 27,199 students in California’s Special Education ED classes, 6,034 or 22% were Black. Special Education: A Nationwide Picture Larry P. Decision Today • Kunjufu (1995) points out that although Black children • Since the Court’s decision, a plethora comprise only 17% of the public school population, they comprise 41% of those in special education. of new Special Education categories have been coined. • Kwate (2001) argues that cultural bias in test content, administration, and standardization procedures have resulted in inappropriate diagnostic classifications for • Challenges to the Larry P. Decision are many African American children. Thus, the WISC-III or IV provides a measure of “misorientation stymied due to the California State quotient” (MQ) rather than “intelligence quotient” (IQ). Department of Education’s inability to determine what are current “substantial equivalents” of the prior EMR category. 3 5/20/13 Testing Bill of Rights For Black Parents References • Affelt, et al (2000). In Larry P. Revisited: IQ Testing of African Americans. California Publishing Company, SF, CA • California Department of Education, Special Education Division, Reporting Cycle: December 1, Affelt et al (2000) developed a Testing Bill of Rights for Black 2007. • Crane, Jonathan (1994). Exploding the Myth of Scientific Support for the Theory of Black Parents which should be widely distributed. Sample questions Intellectual Inferiority. J of Black Psychology, V. 20, No. 2. May. for Black parents to pose to psychologists aiming to test their • Codrington, Jamila and Halford Fairchild (2012). “Special Education and the Mis-education of African American Children: A Call to Action.” The Association of Black Psychologists. Washington, children: D.C. • Elliot, Roger (1987). Litigating Intelligence. IQ Tests, Special Education, and Social Science in the 1. What are standardized tests? Courtroom. Auborn House. Dover, Massachusetts. 2. Why are you planning to give this test to my child? • Greenfield, P.M. (1998). The cultural evolution of IQ. In U. Neisser (Ed.), The rising curve (pp. 81-124). Washington, D.C.: The American Psychological Association. 3. Will the test used compare my child to other children • Guthrie, Robert V. (1976). Even the Rat Was White. Harper & Row. New York. • Jensen, A.R. (1969). How much can we boost IQ and scholastic achievement? Harvard from the same cultural background? Educational Review, 39, 1-123. 4. What educational needs does this test identify? • Kunjufu, J. (1995). Countering the conspiracy to destroy Black boys (Series, 1st ed.). Chicago: African 5. Will the information gained, on this test, or the procedures American Images. • Kwate, Naa Oyo (2001). “Intelligence or Misorientation? Eurocentrism in the WISC-III.” J of Black used hurt my child in any way? Psychology, V. 27, No. 2, May. • Mundy-Castle, A.C. (1974). Social and technological intelligence in Western and non-Western cultures. Universititas, 4, 46-52. • Thomas, William (2000) Larry P. Revisited: IQ Testing of African Americans. California Publishing Company, SF, CA. 4 .
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