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ADMINISTRATIVE IMPACT OF TWO EVALUATION PROCEDURES FOR THE IDENTIFICATION AND PLACEMENT OF MENTALLY RETARDED MINORITY STUDENTS

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Date Issued:
1982
Summary:
The literature shows that minority students have been placed into programs for the mentally retarded in numbers which far exceed their expected representation in the general student population. Also, that the current evaluation procedures are the primary reason for this over identification and that new evaluation procedures should be considered. The "System of Multicultural Pluralistic Assessment" (S.O.M.P.A.), created by sociologist Dr. Jane Mercer of Riverside, California, in 1979, provides an alternative procedure. S.O.M.P.A. meets the federal mandate for nonbiased assessment outlined in Public Law 94-142. Using the existing Palm Beach County School District procedures and the S.O.M.P.A., this study attempted to determine which procedure would more accurately diagnose minority students as mentally retarded by dually evaluating seventy-three minority students. Fifty-four students were placed into programs for the mentally retarded utilizing the district procedures while only twenty-three students would have been placed utilizing S.O.M.P.A. That was a statistically significant (P < .001 level of confidence) reduction in the number of students placed in favor of S.O.M.P.A. The study also shows that males were referred, evaluated, and placed more frequently than females; blacks were referred, evaluated, and placed more frequently than whites and Hispanics; black males were referred, evaluated, and placed more frequently than any other sex and ethnic group combined; Hispanic females were referred, evaluated, and placed less frequently than any other sex and ethnic group combination; eight to eleven year old students were referred, evaluated, and placed more frequently than any other age range; ten year old students were referred and evaluated more frequently than any other age student; and that eleven and twelve year olds were placed more frequently than any other age student.
Title: THE ADMINISTRATIVE IMPACT OF TWO EVALUATION PROCEDURES FOR THE IDENTIFICATION AND PLACEMENT OF MENTALLY RETARDED MINORITY STUDENTS.
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Name(s): SARGEANT, JOHN ALLEN.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1982
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 192 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: The literature shows that minority students have been placed into programs for the mentally retarded in numbers which far exceed their expected representation in the general student population. Also, that the current evaluation procedures are the primary reason for this over identification and that new evaluation procedures should be considered. The "System of Multicultural Pluralistic Assessment" (S.O.M.P.A.), created by sociologist Dr. Jane Mercer of Riverside, California, in 1979, provides an alternative procedure. S.O.M.P.A. meets the federal mandate for nonbiased assessment outlined in Public Law 94-142. Using the existing Palm Beach County School District procedures and the S.O.M.P.A., this study attempted to determine which procedure would more accurately diagnose minority students as mentally retarded by dually evaluating seventy-three minority students. Fifty-four students were placed into programs for the mentally retarded utilizing the district procedures while only twenty-three students would have been placed utilizing S.O.M.P.A. That was a statistically significant (P < .001 level of confidence) reduction in the number of students placed in favor of S.O.M.P.A. The study also shows that males were referred, evaluated, and placed more frequently than females; blacks were referred, evaluated, and placed more frequently than whites and Hispanics; black males were referred, evaluated, and placed more frequently than any other sex and ethnic group combined; Hispanic females were referred, evaluated, and placed less frequently than any other sex and ethnic group combination; eight to eleven year old students were referred, evaluated, and placed more frequently than any other age range; ten year old students were referred and evaluated more frequently than any other age student; and that eleven and twelve year olds were placed more frequently than any other age student.
Identifier: 11811 (digitool), FADT11811 (IID), fau:8735 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Thesis (Educat.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1982.
College of Education
Subject(s): Children with mental disabilities--Florida--Testing
Minorities--Psychological testing--Florida
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/11811
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.