Reflection on Reading Assignments - Assignment Example

Assessments are crucial to the effectiveness of professional psychology. A great majority of professionals in the field depend on psychological assessment. The skills gained from assessment separate a professional from a quack. Assessment most importantly links the investigative, curative and evaluative sectors of psychology. It also links the entire field of psychology to clinical practice (p25).There are many ethical considerations in testing. The most prominent are the existence of a professional relationship.

There must be agreed on terms on both sides. Privacy is also key. The professional should not disclose any information to anyone else apart from the client. Inviolacy is also key. There must be a good approach when sensitive information is discovered (p 48).There are structured and unstructured assessments. The former is organized while the latter is not. Unstructured assessments therefore are open to bias. They are also not as precise as structured assessments. The challenge with structured assessments is that they are not flexible and so might not result in sufficient information to recommend the best solutions to the client (p 77).

Intelligence assessment is key to educational planning. The main reason is that the results are scientific and are therefore untainted by any personal biases. The first advantage of intelligence assessment with regard to educational planning is that is very accurate. It can as a result be used to predict likely future behavior. This is important so as to prepare remedies before a situation ambushes both the client and the professional.Another advantage of intelligence assessment is that it predicts academic achievement.

This is key to success. If there is likely to be a flagging of performance then special interventions can be made to arrest the fall before it happens. Finally, intelligence assesse3ment provides us with a clear picture of the cognitive strengths and weaknesses of a particular student. This is necessary so as to enable the person take challenges that are targeted at improving their weak areas even as they perfect on their strengths (p 130).The proper administration of an assessment is critical for the right remedies.

However, it is not easy to know the success, or lack of it, of assessment unless tests are carried out. The tests aim to find out to what extent the information gathered during the assessment is reliable. The tests tell the truth about the person’s abilities on different areas of learning. There are verbal tests for speech. There are personality tests e.t.c.The only precaution that should be taken to mind is that the tests might not tell the whole truth as far as intelligence is concerned. They can only be said to be reliable if what the client said at the assessment stage is reliable.

If they were economical with the truth then there shall be a discrepancy even after the test is carried out.My point of departure as far as educational planning is concerned is that future trends, though predictable, are liable to change. If for instance a test is carried out that predicts a gloomy end for a learner, and the learner realizes it, they are likely to be resigned and this could result in a self fulfilling prophesy. In that respect therefore I would disagree with the experts on their suggestion that assessment should be the be all and end all as far as educational planning is concerned.

Educational planning therefore should have a flexible approach. There is need for continuous evaluation so as to track even the slightest changes which might be undetected by predictive tests. Negotiation must also be brought on board to ensure that there is a constant interchange between the professional and the learner so that the recommendations are mutual and not imposed.Marnat, G.(2003).Handbook of Psychological Assessment: John Wiley and Sons, London