Establishing a New Normal: Advances in Norm Development to Address Issues of Bias and Equity

About This Event

Psychoeducational assessment continues to remain a staple for school psychological practice around the country. Moreover, psychoeducational assessment is used for diagnostic and educational decision-making and must be conducted with compassion, care, and adherence to testing guidelines to ensure practitioners obtain reliable and valid results. Therefore, the School Psychology program is hosting the 5th Annual Assessment Conference.

The Annual Assessment Conference invites some of the biggest names in psychoeducational assessment in the country to Gonzaga University’s (GU’S) campus to deliver state-of-the-art professional development. The primary audience is school psychologists, which includes school psychology candidates in preparation programs throughout the state. Additionally, other professionals also attend the event such as special education teachers, learning specialists, educational evaluators, and the like.

*Please note that no virtual option is available for the Assessment Conference*

Meet our Special Guests

Dr. Kristina Breaux is a licensed special educator, learning disabilities specialist, researcher, and published author. In her current role as principal research director at Pearson, she leads the development of diagnostic achievement tests and dyslexia assessment solutions in Clinical Assessment. Since receiving her clinical training at Northwestern University, Dr. Breaux has taught students with learning disabilities and other neurodevelopmental disorders across the grade range and conducted numerous psychoeducational assessments for children, adolescents, and adults. She has co-authored two books and published numerous book chapters and journal articles in the field of clinical assessment. Dr. Breaux is a member of the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA) and past president of LDA Oregon. She currently serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment.

Nathan Kuncel is the Marvin D. Dunnette Distinguished Professor of Industrial-Organizational Psychology and a McKnight Presidential Fellow at the University of Minnesota where he also earned his doctorate in Industrial-Organizational Psychology.  Nathan’s research generally focuses how individual characteristics (intelligence, personality, interests) influence subsequent work, academic, and life success as well as efforts to model and measure success. Recently his research has examined the effects of judgment and decision making on the utility of admissions and hiring decisions. Nathan’s has published in Science, Harvard Business Review, Psychological Bulletin, Review of Educational Research, The Wall Street Journal, Psychological Science, Perspectives on Psychological Science, among others. Nathan is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, the American Psychological Association, and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. He received the Anne Anastasi Award from the American Psychological Association, the Early Career Research Award from the Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology, the Jeanneret Award from the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and delivered the Esther Rosen Lecture on Gifted Children and Adolescents. Nathan is an enthusiastic triathlete which barely lets him keep up with his kids.

Dr. Ortiz is Professor of Psychology and Director of Graduate Programs in School Psychology at St. John's University. His Ph.D. is from the University of Southern California with a credential in school psychology and postdoctoral training in bilingual school psychology from San Diego State University. He has served as member and Chair of APA’s Committee on Psychological Tests and Assessment, member of the Coalition for Psychology in Schools and Education, and member of APA Presidential Task Force on Educational Disparities. He is an internationally recognized expert on issues involving assessment of English learners, Cross-Battery Assessment, and specific learning disabilities. He is author or co-author of the Ortiz PVAT, X-BASS, and the C-LIM. His books include “Assessing Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students,” currently under revision, and “Essentials of Cross-Battery Assessment, 3rd Edition.”

Susan Engi Raiford, PhD, is a licensed psychologist and principal research director of Wechsler intelligence and other cognitive ability products in the education portfolio at Pearson. She has been a primary developer of the Wechsler intelligence scales since 2004. She has led projects such as the WISC-V, the WISC-V Integrated, the WAIS-IV, the WPPSI-IV, and the WAIS-5. She has authored and co-authored multiple books on assessment including Essentials of Psychological Tele-Assessment, Essentials of WISC-V Integrated Assessment, Intelligent Testing with the WISC-V, Essentials of WPPSI-IV Assessment, and WAIS-IV Clinical Use and Interpretation. She maintains a part-time private psychological assessment practice. Prior to becoming a psychological test developer, she obtained a graduate degree in community counseling then in clinical psychology and engaged in clinical work for ten years, providing assessment, psychotherapy, and consultation to individuals of all ages in inpatient, outpatient, school, and residential settings.