The Cognitive Assessment Course: Two Decades Later

Given significant changes to legislation, practice, research, and instrumentation, the purpose of this study was to examine the course on cognitive assessment in school psychology programs and to describe the (a) structure, (b) instructional strategies, (c) content, and (d) interpretative strategies taught to school psychology graduate students. 127 instructors were surveyed, and results suggest that over the last 20 years support for teaching cognitive assessment has decreased while the content and instructional strategies have remained largely the same. Results of this study also indicate that the interpretation strategies taught rely heavily on Cattell-Horn-Carroll theory and related interpretive frameworks (e.g., cross-battery assessment). Additionally, instructors are placing greater emphasis on and multicultural sensitivity/ culturally and linguistically diverse assessment than in previous decades. Implications for future research, training and practice are discussed.