ETHNIC VALIDITY AND SCHOOL-PSYCHOLOGY - CONCEPTS AND PRACTICES ASSOCIATED WITH CROSS-CULTURAL PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE

Many questions have been raised concerning school psychology services for children of diverse ethnic groups. Fundamentally these have related to problem identification, acceptability of interventions, the efficacy of special programs and interventions, and the preparation of professionals to deal with the complexities of multicultural and cross-cultural practice. The construct ethnic validity, as an extension and application of social validity, holds promise for devising ways to address these questions. Within the context of a problem-solving model, ethnic validity is linked to judgments by culturally representative members of the local community in regard to the appropriateness of goals, intervention processes, and outcomes. This article reviews models of ethnic validity and examines the possible contributions of ethnic validity to school psychology practice, training, and research.