What is Psycho-educational Evaluation?
A Psycho-educational evaluation is a process conducted by a licensed psychologist, Psychological Associate, or credentialed School Psychologist with the aim of obtaining information about a student’s learning, behaviour, or mental health.
Psycho-educational evaluation is a key activity in the role of a School Psychologist. When conducted in a school, evaluations are often initiated by the school. In private practice, they can be initiated by the school, parents, third party sources (CFS, Psychiatry, various community based organizations, etc), or adult students who are of majority age. There are various reasons for conducting psycho-educational evaluations, and these might include part of the information gathering for special education teams to determine eligibility for services and to inform appropriate education, to help develop instructional or behaviour plans for students, to identify significant mental health concerns, to identify learning or social-emotional-behavioural conditions (Learning Disorders, Autism, Intellectual Disability, ADHD, etc), or to determine eligibility for gifted education supports.
Components of a Comprehensive Psycho-educational Assessment
Not all types of assessments are used or needed to conduct a comprehensive assessment. What is important is that the array of information gathered includes:
A review of what is already known about the student relative to the referral question: for example, school history/supports (grades, past test performance, attendance, disciplinary records, current or past special education supports, etc.), medical/developmental history (previous diagnoses, physical health problems, early developmental history, etc).
Relevant new information from multiple sources: the current concerns in school environment, home environment, and elsewhere (e.g., reading skills for reading problems, cognitive skills to address questions of ability; behaviour observations and ratings for behaviour problems, etc.)
Direct testing of the student (e.g., measures that determine cognitive ability, academic functioning, inattention, etc).
Information about any cultural, language, health, or economic factors that may affect the results of assessment or the student’s behaviour and learning.