Marie Cashion’s letter of 17 April is right on the money. She’s absolutely correct when she says that psychologists should back Education Act changes in support of resource teachers being positioned to administer and interpret student tests. Who better?
Certainly, some of the tests are complex and demand a higher/finer degree of understanding of the mechanism of assessment than just a numerical one.
Educators involved in the day to day of student life are uniquely situated to learn about the key points of test interpretation with an ability to apply the processes in a timely manner. Many psychologists, often functioning outside the school system/setting are disadvantaged by lack of proximity to the guts of the issues. With more collaboration and with psychologists not getting hung up on the ‘alphabet tag’ after their name, they can actually be more effective in their professional capacity. Educators and psychologists have one shared goal — to help students be their best selves in the school setting and out in the ‘living in it’ world.
To be blunt, psychologists need to get over themselves and accept that educators have equal if not superior qualifications in certain areas of of the process of testing. Experience in the field, actively teaching children, must count for something. Psychologists historically focus on emotional/mental wellness and issues that may negatively impact it. Their skill set may include the qualifications and ability to administer tests to students in the school setting, but they are not the only professionals who capable of doing that.
Frankly, teachers are actually better positioned as they’re in ‘the thick of it’ each and every day and are able to observe interactions of students with classmates, with teachers, with young or older students. What they observe can and does impact student performance on tests; something that psychologists don’t get to appreciate on a consistent basis given they’re outside the bubble. It’s counter-productive to duplicate services when teachers can be trained to administer tests and are eager to learn how to effectively do so without bias.
Early testing, being mindful of the uniqueness/special needs of some students allows teachers to keep their finger on the pulse of the process going forward which in turn, allows them and their colleagues to adjust curriculum to accommodate different learning styles. Persons like me, living with neurological insults like cerebral palsy, may require certain considerations with regard to test time completion. Some of us by virtue of challenges to dexterity, fine motor skills, may take longer to complete a test and some administrators/assessors may misinterpret extra time requirement as a function of a learning disability. Teachers get to see us in those raw states, something psychologists don’t appreciate until a real problem arises - like temper tantrums, etc. What is the source of the tantrum? Is it a daily thing or driven by situations outside the school setting? Teachers and psychologists must present a united front when dealing with students who are frustrated by unpredictable home lives when parents are at odds with differing styles of communicating with children. Psychologists would function to counsel all involved in the family dynamic and provide tools to correct course that would improve school performance. Teachers will benefit from that expertise as they see a child’s behaviour stabilize and learning potentials enhanced, free of stress.
Dr. Cashion’s point are valid ones and bear on the success of expanding testing mechanisms to include input from resource teachers, the very people who often get to know students on levels not available to psychologists. Psychologists are typically called upon when there’s already an active crisis. Teachers, on the other hand, can, from the outset, steer students around crises with non-threatening conversations about what’s going on in their world that makes learning difficult for them.
Psychologists and resource teachers don’t need to compete with each other; that only creates conflict and mistrust of motives. The only focus should be on student outcomes and what each, psychologist and teacher, can do to improve success rates.
With shortages of psychologists in the school system, a reasonable person would assert that teachers can fill the gaps. Children want to be heard and understood. Teachers do that. Psychologists do that. Why is is so difficult for psychologists to just let go and let grow. They’re adults and should be able to accept that they and teachers are able to provide youngsters with the same things but in different ways. They get to the same place but from different directions. That’s called learning life.
In the end, the expansion of the role of resource teachers to function as test administrators must not be seen as taking something away from clinical psychologists. On the contrary, they actually serve to compliment each other with their shared vision of health and wellness of students.
Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with Miss Lexie, a rambunctious Maltese and Mr. Malcolm, the boisterous Havanese. She can be reached via email at Carla MacInnis Rockwell
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