Special Needs Assessment Procedures as Mechanisms of Inequality? A Cross-Cultural Historical Comparison

• In Event: Inclusion and Accessibility in Educational Assessment SIG (#96) Roundtable

Abstract

Special Needs Assessment Procedures are cornerstones for equitable education as they label children (in-)eligible to attend regular schools. These procedures are plagued with unarticulated biases, yet barely systematically researched. This contribution compares archival sources from North America and Europe and tries to find commonalities and differences in the documented assessment procedures focusing on the evidential basis on which local and state authorities decided the further schooling of the children in question. Through diachronic as well as international comparison, cultural, temporal, and geographical idiosyncrasies can be identified. Furthermore, similarities of (Western) assessment procedures can be detected and the theorization of these can be developed further. Lastly, the contribution explores cases of dissent in which different experts arrive at varying decisions.

Authors

• Till Neuhaus, Bielefeld University

• Michaela Vogt, University of Bielefeld