Greetings,
 
We at the Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture at Boston
College's Lynch School of Education would like to invite you to submit
proposals for our 2nd annual Diversity Challenge Conference October 11-12
2002, entitled: How to Keep High-stakes Testing from Making People Mentally
Ill. <http://www.bc.edu/isprc/conference2002>
 
High-stakes tests are becoming the primary criteria for decision-making in a
variety of societal domains including education, mental health, civil service,
and industry. In the U.S., a common occurrence is that ALANA and immigrant
populations are adversely impacted by the use of test scores as the primary
indicator of merit. Yet we rarely hear the stories of how professionals,
administrators, test takers, parents, and/or community organizations in highly
diverse environments cope with the stresses of fitting everyone, regardless of
race or culture-related life experiences, into the same size test box.
 
We want to create a forum in which multiple perspectives on the use of
high-stakes testing are encouraged, including those from front-line educators,
concerned parent-teacher and community groups, test developers, mental health
clinicians, and anyone else with an informed opinion about high-stakes testing
in their respective fields.
 
For example, an educator could present strategies they have developed or
currently use to allay student concerns about, and/or to promote content
mastery of, high-stakes tests. Educators could also present on the current use
of the PRAXIS test with educators in training as well as certification issues.
Additionally, educators, parent-teacher and/or community organizations could
present their opinions about high-stakes testing as related to consequences or
benefits to pedagogy, actual outcomes, fairness, etc.
 
Test developers could present their latest reliability validity research, as
well as their efforts to rule out confounding factors via standardization. A
variety of presentation topics exist for Mental Health Clinicians, including
their experience with and informed opinions on the use of intellectual,
personality, projective, and vocational assessment techniques across a
diversity of populations and concerns.
 
We encourage you to view the Conference website for more information and
answers to frequently asked questions. The deadline for proposals in April 30,
2002. We just learned about your nonprofit organization last week and realize
the call for proposal's deadline is soon approaching. Please notify Diversity
Challenge Staff <diversity.challenge@bc.edu> if you are unable to meet the
proposal deadline, but wish to submit; deadline extensions will be made on a
case-by-case basis.
 
We look forward to including NCCD's voice at Diversity Challenge
2002!
 
Sincerest Regards,
 
Kevin Henze
ISPRC-Graduate Assistant
diversity.challenge@bc.edu
http://www.bc.edu/isprc
 
Greetings,
 
We at the Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture at Boston
College's Lynch School of Education would like to invite you to submit
proposals for our 2nd annual Diversity Challenge Conference October 11-12
2002, entitled: How to Keep High-stakes Testing from Making People Mentally
Ill. <http://www.bc.edu/isprc/conference2002>
 
High-stakes tests are becoming the primary criteria for decision-making in a
variety of societal domains including education, mental health, civil service,
and industry. In the U.S., a common occurrence is that ALANA and immigrant
populations are adversely impacted by the use of test scores as the primary
indicator of merit. Yet we rarely hear the stories of how professionals,
administrators, test takers, parents, and/or community organizations in highly
diverse environments cope with the stresses of fitting everyone, regardless of
race or culture-related life experiences, into the same size test box.
 
We want to create a forum in which multiple perspectives on the use of
high-stakes testing are encouraged, including those from front-line educators,
concerned parent-teacher and community groups, test developers, mental health
clinicians, and anyone else with an informed opinion about high-stakes testing
in their respective fields.
 
For example, an educator could present strategies they have developed or
currently use to allay student concerns about, and/or to promote content
mastery of, high-stakes tests. Educators could also present on the current use
of the PRAXIS test with educators in training as well as certification issues.
Additionally, educators, parent-teacher and/or community organizations could
present their opinions about high-stakes testing as related to consequences or
benefits to pedagogy, actual outcomes, fairness, etc.
 
Test developers could present their latest reliability validity research, as
well as their efforts to rule out confounding factors via standardization. A
variety of presentation topics exist for Mental Health Clinicians, including
their experience with and informed opinions on the use of intellectual,
personality, projective, and vocational assessment techniques across a
diversity of populations and concerns.
 
We encourage you to view the Conference website for more information and
answers to frequently asked questions. The deadline for proposals in April 30,
2002. We just learned about your nonprofit organization last week and realize
the call for proposal's deadline is soon approaching. Please notify Diversity
Challenge Staff <diversity.challenge@bc.edu> if you are unable to meet the
proposal deadline, but wish to submit; deadline extensions will be made on a
case-by-case basis.
 
We look forward to including NCCD's voice at Diversity Challenge
2002!
 
Sincerest Regards,
 
Kevin Henze
ISPRC-Graduate Assistant
diversity.challenge@bc.edu
http://www.bc.edu/isprc