“Ask SASP” is a new column devoted to answering questions submitted to the Executive Board about SASP, Division 16, or school psychology in general; questions can be submitted to Co-Editor, Aaron Haddock.

Question:
I am the SASP President [of my local SASP chapter]. My [executive] board and I are about to turn over our positions to the first year students. I was just wondering [about] the protocol for turning over positions. Does the [executive] board vote or do students in the chapter vote? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Answer from Kristen Girard, SASP Executive Board Communications Liaison:
Thanks for your question! The national SASP Executive Board does not outline any specific election procedures. Your decision may be determined based on whether your chapter has a charter or constitution. This document might include election procedures. If it doesn't, it might be helpful to start one or amend your constitution to include this information. My SASP chapter at Michigan State University asks for nominations and selfnominations and then we create a survey monkey election poll that gets sent to all current members. We have very clear guidelines about when elections should take place, when nominations must be submitted, and how long election polls are open in our chapter's constitution. It's really up to your chapter! Good luck!

Question:
How do the academic assessment tools differ from one country to another? Are most tests used by schools internationally? Are additional training required for a school psychologist trained in the United State in order to transfer their skills to schools world-wide?

Answer from Jacquie Brown, SASP Executive Board Membership Chair:
This is a great question. Although I cannot speak directly for other countries, I can tell you that Canada uses the same assessment measures as the United States, with some assessments having Canadian norms. Some other tests that just have American norms are also used, but the fact that the norms are American are acknowledged.

A quick Google search lead me to find that the Woodcock-Johnson (WJ III), the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test Second Edition (WIAT II), and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) also have an Australian Adaptation WJ III, WISC IV, WIAT II. Furthermore, there is also a WISC-IV UK edition and WIAT II UK Edition. So, it appears that many countries use similar assessments (at least cognitive and achievement measures). Many other assessments (e.g, the Differential Ability Scales–Second Edition (DAS-II)) are also used in Canada, and may likely be used in other countries as well. Of course, when adaptations are made, there may be changes on some of the questions or acceptable answers based on cultural differences, traditions, and the history of a specific country. This would probably be most likely on some of the subtests that measure verbal/crystallized intelligence. It may be worthwhile to look into what is used in a specific country by doing a web search (e.g., WISC-IV and Australia).

Best of luck!