Additionally, within a school setting, parental consent must be obtained if a child is assessed. The results of testing a minor for learning disability can impact the child's education for many years and carries an additional weighty responsibility for the assessor: the child's parents must be made fully aware of what types of treatment are available for the child and the pros and cons of assessment. In all settings, the tests must be validated, reliable, and accepted by the psychological community as appropriate for that setting. An obvious example of appropriateness is the need to use the correct version of the MMPI Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-A) when testing adolescents, and using tests 'normed' on a representative population. Some tests are normed on individuals who are already identified as pathological, while others upon the general population.

Cultural sensitivity is also an issue: on a very basic level, when testing a student's IQ whose primary language is not English, the assessment must be performed in the student's first language, or not be a verbally-focused test. Even...

The administrator of projective tests must also be highly trained in interpretation and administration, to reduce subjective bias.
Testing has become ubiquitous in modern culture -- even many jobs use computerized versions of the MMPI to assess candidates. However, psychological assessment is at best a blunt instrument. The less trained the interpreter, and the more generic the format, the less reliable the test. Testing should be used as a guide, and must never function as the sole diagnostic determinant when creating a course of treatment.

References

Richmond, Raymond Lloyd. (2009). Confidentiality. A guide to psychology and its practice.

Retrieved January 14, 2010 at http://www.guidetopsychology.com/confid.htm