In this talk, Sunaina Shenoy will explore the assessment tools available in the academic areas of oral language and reading. She will then go on to address specific assessment concerns for multilingual learners. Next, she will shed light on the assessment considerations that have currently been established in the field as well as provide examples from her current research work to illustrate where we are headed in the future. Finally, she will illustrate how this impacts the assessment and identification of culturally-linguistically diverse students with specific learning disabilities.

About the presenter:

Sunaina Shenoy is an associate professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of New Mexico. She earned a Ph.D. in special education from the University of California, Berkeley and completed her post-doctoral work at the Florida Center for Reading Research at Florida State University. She teaches in the Educational Diagnosis Certificate Program at UNM, specializing in courses related to the assessment and identification of students with disabilities. Her research interests are in dyslexia; reading; assessment; culturally and linguistically diverse students; and international special education.

About the Series:

The Community Talks series provides researchers, practitioners, families, and community stakeholders learning opportunities to increase their understanding and ability to apply knowledge related to language development for multilingual populations in their respective settings. An attendance certificate will be provided at the end of each session.

These community talks on multilingualism and assessment issues are sponsored by Sharolyn D. Pollard-Durodola, professor and Dunn Family Endowed Chair of Educational Assessment. The events are co-hosted by the Lynn Bennett Early Childhood Education Center and the COE Early Childhood, Multilingual, and Special Education Department.