A Justice-Orientated Critical Review of Youth Risk Assessments

• In Event: Applications in Systematic and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Understanding how students’ sociocultural and contextual environments drive academic achievement is critical to support learning environments that reflect diversity with respect to language, culture, and ways of knowing. This study systematically reviews student risk assessments related to school disciplinary practices through a justice-orientated antiracist validity framework, providing a critical deconstruction of how, why, and for what purposes risk assessments serve in educational settings. The preliminary findings indicate a lack of documentation regarding theoretical frameworks, narrow scope of validity evidence, and a lack of attunement to sociocultural differences. These preliminary results advance social and racial justice within the educational assessment field and aim to disrupt a component of the assessment system that has historically and continually perpetuated inequities for marginalized communities.

Authors

• Thao Thu Vo, Washington State University

• Brian F. French, Washington State University