${loserAccounts} been merged into ${winnerAccount}.

A recent audit found these accounts to be duplicative. Addresses, order history and Q-global ordering for both accounts are now accessible via the ${winnerAccount} account. If something isn’t right, please contact us.

${loserAccounts} been merged into ${winnerAccount}.

A recent audit found these accounts to be duplicative. Addresses, qualified users, order history and Q-global ordering for both organizations are now accessible via the ${winnerAccount} account. If something isn’t right, contact us.

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Breaking Barriers: How DALS Supports Equity in and Access to School Assessments

Person in a gray sweater working on a laptop in a bright, plant-decorated cafe setting.

The pursuit of equity in education has an important ally in Pearson’s Digital Assessment Library for Schools (DALS), which is helping level the playing field and provide the best outcomes for all students. Throughout my 25-year career as a school psychologist, I've observed how subtle inequalities in testing can have a profound impact, inadvertently creating barriers and limiting the potential of students. 

While all schools strive for equality, it can be difficult when practitioners don’t have access to the most effective tests for their students’ needs, often due to budget constraints. Here’s how DALS helps solve four common scenarios practitioners face.

Barrier 1: Inadequate access due to kit sharing.

Within schools and districts, there are frequently pockets of varying socio-economic profiles. Because a DALS purchase is typically a district-wide solution, it helps eliminate gaps and give equal opportunity to all clinicians to test students without hesitation.

Districts often share resources, such as low-incidence evaluation kits, among multiple practitioners. We often hear tales of a psychologist testing on the north side of the district who realizes the kit they need is on the south side. Out of pure practicality, that evaluation may not be possible because of a lack of convenient kit access at a particular location.

With a wide variety of valid and reliable assessments available at a practitioner’s fingertips, every student has the same access to necessary assessments no matter where they are in the district, providing equal opportunity for all.

Barrier 2: Practitioners discover they lack the right test at the right time.

School psychologists often move from building to building — or even make home visits — to assess students. Oftentimes, they will plan their assessment session based on a referral concern but as they engage with a student, they uncover information that reveals new insight and prompts a change in approach. In these cases, having the right assessment materials is critical. 

Despite a desire to conduct a specific test, in reality, if you don't have immediate access while you’re on a deadline, you may forgo this additional assessment.

As my Pearson colleague Chuck Eberle, the Product Owner of our Digital Assessment Library for Schools, emphasizes, when a student doesn't receive an accurate, appropriate or comprehensive evaluation, it can have far-reaching consequences. Ultimately, it could lead to suboptimal student outcomes.

With DALS unlimited use feature, over 40 assessments are instantly accessible wherever you go. This affords you additional agility in your testing sessions, meaning you can give your most ethical professional assessment, without being limited to and weighed down by physical test kits.

Barrier 3: Lack of awareness about the range of nuanced tests that exist. 

While practitioners are familiar with the most well-known tests, we frequently find they’re unaware of the breadth of assessments available. DALS provides a more comprehensive assessment battery to fully answer the referral question that may otherwise be too cost-prohibitive for districts to purchase for all their users. The availability of these specialized and more targeted assessment tools allows clinicians to dig deeper to address specific student concerns and get more accurate results, rather than being bound by what’s available in their print ecosystem. 

Additionally, kids’ needs change; it’s not unusual to see a student who had been evaluated at the age of five not qualify for services at the time. However, when tested again in seventh grade using assessments they didn't have access to earlier, they were then found to be eligible. In this case, the student essentially lost out on years of crucial services that would have been available if there had previously been access to better instruments.

Barrier 4: Limited tests lead to rationing and stockpiling.

Paper kits are a finite resource because districts have a defined budget for assessments. That means financial pressure may subtly influence selection decisions, making practitioners more conscious of which students to prioritize depending upon the number of protocols remaining until the next purchasing cycle. For example, if 50 kids need to be tested before the end of the year but only 45 protocols remain, the additional 5 children may be administered an inferior assessment or they may not get tested at all.

Not only can this affect outcomes, but this well-intentioned stockpiling can also lead to a build-up of unused tests, resulting in wasted resources that further strain already limited budgets. One district, for example, was astonished to find a surplus of unused tests when conducting an audit because professionals would save them to avoid running out. Ultimately, they recovered about $250,000 in assessment material that had accumulated over the years. As Chuck points out, these unused tests represented a double loss: wasted funds and missed opportunities for students who could have benefited.

That’s the beauty of unlimited access — it alleviates that financial burden, allowing you the luxury to be guided by your professional judgment and expertise, rather than having to be overly cautious about only using a set amount of protocols “wisely” to avoid costing the district additional money. 

Equal Access, Equal Opportunity: The Benefits of Switching to Digital Assessments

DALS empowers school psychologists to use their professional discretion and judgment, rather than make assessments based on the practicality of what they have reasonable access to at any given time. Would your district benefit from providing equal access for both the clinician and the student? See if DALS is right for your district by talking with a Pearson Clinical Assessment Consultant.