ATP Board of Directors Passes Resolution

in Support of Learning Disabilities Community

In a show of support for the Learning Disabilities community, ATP's Board of Directors this month approved a Resolution aligning ATP's mission with those struggling with learning disabilities and the educational communities that serve them.

"ATP has been working with the Learning Disabilities Association (LDA) in seeking ways to connect the ATP and the LDA constituencies so as to better support and promote each other’s missions. LDA members are feeling overlooked in today’s pandemic educational environment in which long-held ADA requirements aimed at assessing and identifying LDA students are being side-stepped or ignored," said ATP Chair John Weiner of PSI.

He went on to explain that, as part of an ongoing effort to support the LD community, the ATP Clinical Division put together a set of “tool kits” for use by LDA members [also highlighted in this newsletter under the title Evaluations Must Go On], which has also been shared with LDA, along with the following Resolution:

Resolution in Support of Testing for Individuals with Learning Disabilities

WHEREAS, it is the mission of the Association of Test Publishers (ATP) to promote and preserve the general welfare of testing and its value to society, in all its forms and uses; and

WHEREAS, it is a central tenet of assessment that testing should be fair, including that neither the tests nor the process of taking a test should advantage or disadvantage individuals because of characteristics irrelevant to the construct being measured; and

WHEREAS, learning disabilities, including but not limited to dyscalculia, dysgraphia, dyslexia, non-verbal learning disabilities, oral/written language disorder, specific reading comprehension deficit, and related disorders such as ADHD, dyspraxia, and executive functions, need to be considered in many assessments to ensure fairness; and

WHEREAS, assessment instruments provided by association members have for many yearsbeen effectively used to identify individuals affected by learning disabilities in a wide range of educational, workplace, and clinical settings globally; and

WHEREAS, assessment instruments that measure knowledge, skills, and abilities provided by association members often provide accomodations to individuals with learning disabilities;

BE IT RESOLVED, that the ATP recognizes that:

(1)  many people go through life with learning disabilities unidentified and/or unsupported;

(2)  the negative impact of learning disabilities can be reduced with an effective, comprehensive, and early, identification, evaluation, intervention and/or prevention plan;

(3)  it is highly desirable to use appropriate best practices related to assessment, evaluations, and interventions for individuals with learning disabilities; and

(4)  it is worthwhile to encourage the use of existing and ongoing research efforts into recognition, assessment, and intervention strategies of learning disabilities.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that ATP encourages its members and all other test users, test sponsors, and test service companies throughout the world to consider the accessibility of their assessments, as well as fair treatment of, and appropriate accommodations for, test takers with learning disabilities in their assessments; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that ATP strongly supports the efforts of  the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA), in its mission to tirelessly advocate for access to identification and fair treatment of those with learning disabilities, especially during times when access to in-person assessments and interventions may be challenged necessitating support and use of remote and/or technology assisted evaluations and interventions.