Checklist For Cross-Cultural Administration Of Standardized Tests (CCAST) Manual and Forms Dr. Catherine Collier CCAST Checklist For Cross-Cultural Administration Of Standardized Tests (CCAST) Manual and Forms CrossCultural Developmental Education Services 2016 Dr. Catherine Collier 2 All Rights Reserved CCAST Table of Contents What Is The CCAST ..................................................................................5 What Does The CCAST Do ........................................................................5 How To Use The CCAST ...........................................................................6 Guidelines For Specific Items ......................................................................7 1. Analysis of Test Content ................................................................................... 7 2. Modifications .................................................................................................... 8 3. Scoring and Interpretation ............................................................................... 10 4. Summary ......................................................................................................... 11 5. Comments ........................................................................................................ 12 6. Summary Notes on Particular Tests ................................................................ 12 Cross-Cultural Administration of Standardized Tests ................................ 14 I. Analysis of Test Content .............................................................................. 14 II. Modifications ................................................................................................ 15 III. Scoring and Interpretation ........................................................................ 17 IV. Summary ..................................................................................................... 18 V. Comments ..................................................................................................... 19 Summary Notes on Particular Tests ............................................................ 20 Making A Decision ................................................................................. 24 Referral to Special Education ........................................................................... 24 Current Compliance Issues for Referrals of EL/CLD ...................................... 26 Referral to a Formal Individualized Evaluation ........................................... 28 Testing .................................................................................................................. 33 EL Methodological Issues with Standardized Tests ............................................. 35 2016 Dr. Catherine Collier 3 All Rights Reserved CCAST Observational Data ........................................................................................... 36 Intellectual Assessment Data ............................................................................ 37 Adaptive Behavior Data ................................................................................... 37 Social/Emotional Behavior Data ...................................................................... 37 Sociocultural Information ................................................................................. 38 Academic/Educational Test Data ..................................................................... 38 Language Assessment ...................................................................................... 38 Measurement of Acculturation ............................................................................. 39 Acculturation of Asian Americans .............................................................. 43 Acculturation of African Americans ................................................................ 43 Acculturation of Hispanic/Latino Americans ................................................... 43 Acculturation of Native Americans .................................................................. 43 Adaptation of Assessments................................................................................... 44 Evaluation Interpretation .................................................................................. 44 Use of Standardized Norm-Referenced Tests .................................................. 45 Dynamic Assessment ........................................................................................... 46 Assessing Student Modifiability and Teacher Effort during Dynamic Assessment ....................................................................................................... 47 Current U.S. Policy ............................................................................................ 49 Resolving or Referring ...................................................................................... 52 Glossary for Separating Difference & Disability ........................................ 53 References ........................................................................................... 78 About the Author .................................................................................. 87 2016 Dr. Catherine Collier 4 All Rights Reserved CCAST What Is The CCAST The Checklist for Cross-cultural Administration of Standardized Tests (CCAST) is a tool for documenting cultural and linguistic modifications to standardized assessment instruments. It will assist with selecting appropriate instruments and procedures, making and documenting good evaluation and interpretation decisions. CCAST is based upon research cited in Assessing Minority Students (Collier, 1988) and Separating Difference from Disability: Assessing Diverse Learners (Collier, 2001). It is part of our recommended 7 Steps for Separating Difference and Disability.1 CCAST should be used with any instrument normed on a population different from that of the student of concern. Hammill (1987) notes that assessment results are merely observations of behavior that must be interpreted to give them meaning. The results of assessment procedures must be interpreted in light of sociocultural information as well as performance during formal evaluation. The CCAST guides the selection and use of evaluative procedures with culturally and linguistically diverse students by modifying and guiding the scoring and interpretation of test results. It includes reviewing the test before administration to identify possibly biased or questionable items, modifying the interpretation of student errors, re-scoring potentially biased items, and comparing the results of alternative scoring. The team reviewing and monitoring test use with specific groups of students can develop a resource file of the CCAST checklists. The resource file of the various checklists generated should be kept available for instructional support teams and multidisciplinary teams who may be considering similar instruments or procedures in the future. What Does The CCAST Do The CCAST guides a team or individual using standardized tests through documentation of possible modifications for culture and language necessitated in cross-cultural situations. The CCAST provides a useful way to document assessment information related to evaluating culturally and linguistically diverse students for placement in special services. It may be used to plan the selection of 1 Collier, 2010 2016 Dr. Catherine Collier 5 All Rights Reserved CCAST specific intensive learning and behavior interventions for culturally/linguistically diverse students as part of an evaluation and staffing. It may be used to identify areas remaining to be evaluated concerning a student’s learning and behavior problems. It may also be used as part of formal documentation of compliance with Office of Civil Rights regulations about the use of standardized instruments with diverse learners outside the norming sample of specific tests and tools. The CCAST is also a successful tool when used for substantiating decisions to modify testing evaluation and assessment procedures. How To Use The CCAST The team members involved in evaluating the needs of a particular diverse learner should review each individual instrument or procedure that they intend to use in this evaluation for appropriateness and potential modification. Each review of a standardized instrument or procedure is done in relation to a specific student profile. Assessment administration resource files on groups of students sharing cultural and linguistic characteristics should be kept available for instructional and multidisciplinary staffing teams. Record the student profile information on the top of the CCAST: name, age, ethnicity, language proficiency, and level of acculturation. Write the name of the test, procedure, or instrument being examined. Describe the learning and behavior problems to be evaluated; be specific. There are three sections for documenting modifications in administration and interpretation. These are Analysis of Content, Modifications, and Scoring and Interpretation. There is a final section for recording comments about test modification and administration with specific populations of students. If the rescoring shows little difference in performance, further student assessment is needed to determine eligibility for placement in special education. However, the influence of sociocultural factors should not be ruled out. If the rescoring shows moderate difference in performance, the student may