Join us for the Annual CSSP Virtual Summer Institute!
DATE: June 12, 2024
This year's sessions focus on strategies for assessing and supporting Newcomers.
Registration includes two sessions providing 3.5 hours of CDE and NASP CEUs!
Register via the PayPal button below. CSSP Members: Login to access the Member Event Registration tab to get the reduced registration rate!
Schedule (mountain time)
10 - 12 pm - Session 1
12 - 12:30 - Lunch break12:30 - 2:00 pm - Session 2
Registration fees:
Non-members: $100
CSSP Members: $60
Students: $20
Session 1: Assessment of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Newcomers: The importance of establishing developmental differences.
Presenter: Samuel Ortiz, PhD
Session Description:
Assessment of culturally and linguistically diverse students represents significant challenges even after the student has resided in the U.S. for an extended period of time and has learned to comprehend and speak English. However, those students who are newly arrived represent potentially greater challenges for evaluation given that they lack acculturative knowledge and possess extremely limited English language skills as a function of the limited experiences with and exposure to the U.S. cultural mainstream. Because common methods for evaluation and assessment typically rely on age or grade-based developmental standards, newcomers are at the highest risk of misidentification largely because of the degree of difference between their experiences and those of children who have been fully raised in the monolingual English-speaking, U.S. cultural mainstream. Addressing this problem requires school psychologists to pay careful attention to the extent of such developmental differences as the magnitude of the difference sets the context by which any measurements are to be understood and interpreted. This presentation will provide guidance on estimating and establishing a student's "degree of difference" and how this difference can be used to establish expectations of performance, rates of acquisition, and growth that are appropriate for the individual or other individuals with similar developmental backgrounds. A variety of freely available (True Peer Estimator, C-LIM+ATE, C-LIM) and commercially available tools (Ortiz PVAT, BESA) and their application within a formal process of evaluation will be presented via a framework that constitutes best practice in newcomer evaluation.
Learning Objectives:1)Understand the importance of establishing a detailed developmental history and experiential timeline as the context for all data interpretation.
2)Utilize available tools and methods for systematic data and information gathering.
3)Estimate and establish the “degree of difference” between the student and the
developmental experiences of monolingual, mainstream English-speaking students.
4)Interpret academic performance, rates of acquisition, and growth relative to “true
peers” irrespective of current age or grade.
5)Assess factors related to first and second language acquisition and their relation to the acquisition of academic skills.
6)Utilize contemporary, evidence-based procedures for addressing exclusionary criteria in evaluation and establishing validity for all data and information.
7)Conduct evaluations of newcomers that meet best practice standards with multilingual learners.
Session 2: Strategies for Supporting Newcomer Students and Families
Presenter: Monica Oganes, Ph.D.
Session Description:
This workshop will highlight strategies to foster inclusive learning environments for promoting resilience in immigrant children, including those with disabilities, through culturally responsive practices and multi-tiered systems of support. Using the ADDRESSING framework, we will address cultural intersectionality across age, disability, religion, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, indigenous heritage, national origin, and gender. The session emphasizes asset-oriented approaches for equitable educational outcomes.
Learning Objectives:
1) Implement non-discriminatory, strength-based approaches that are culturally responsive when supporting immigrant children, including those with disabilities.
2) Recognize the primary stressors and evaluate the trauma risk levels that immigrant children may experience during their transition to new environments.
3) Utilize trauma-informed strategies to address the diverse social, emotional, behavioral, academic, and mental health needs of immigrant children in educational settings.
