Appendix A: Lozano Smith Opinion Letter Propriety of Administering I.Q. Tests to African American Students
BACKGROUND The Larry P. Decision
The seminal case on this matter is Larry P. v. Riles, 495 F. Supp. 926 (N.D. Cal. 1979) aff’d 79 F.2d 969 (9th Cir. 1986) . In Larry P., a group of black students filed a lawsuit challenging the use of I.Q. tests to identify and determine placement in EMR classes. The court found that the use of standardized intelligence tests were racially and culturally biased and issued a permanent injunction against the use of such tests “for the identification of black EMR children or their placement into EMR classes.” The court defined an EMR designation to include any “substantially equivalent” category, and defined EMR classes to include “other special classes serving substantially the same functions.” The court noted that EMR classes were considered “dead-end classes” that students were “unlikely to escape” to return to regular education classes. Although the EMR designation and classes were abandoned long ago, no published court decision has since interpreted the meaning of a “substantially equivalent” designation or class. Thus, there is limited guidance available regarding what constitutes the types of labels or class placements that should not be determined based on standardized I.Q. tests. The decision included a list of about seventeen (17) prohibited intelligence tests. The Larry P. Settlement In 1986, after California had abolished the EMR category, the parties to the Larry P. case entered a settlement agreement to modify the earlier injunction. Specifically, the parties agreed to have the injunction expanded to preclude the use of I.Q. tests to assess African American students for any special education identification or placement. The district court modified its 1979 injunction based upon the settlement agreement and entered a new judgment reflecting the modified injunction. The Larry P. Task Force In response to the 1986 modification of the Larry P. injunction, the State Director of Special Education appointed a task force to develop recommendations regarding policies and alternative assessments to comply with the injunction. In 1989, the task force issued a lengthy report that included lists of prohibited intelligence tests. The task force lists included the tests from the Larry P. decision, as well as about twelve additional tests the task force suggested were subject to the injunction.
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BP 5002 – Assessment and Evaluation
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Desert Mountain Charter Special Education Local Plan Area (DMCS) (rev. 11/16)
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