The purpose of this presentation is to introduce the investigator-made PASS+S Dynamic Assessment (PASS+S) as an alternative assessment of cognitive competence for schooling. This device is based on the cultural-historical theory and research of the Soviet psychologists, L.S.Vygotsky and A.R. Luria. This innovative test incorporates Vygotsky's notion of dynamic assessment, Luria's model of cognitive processing and an interpretation according to the cultural-historical theory.

The PASS+S is based on the cultural-historical theory which emphasizes the social origins of higher cognitive functioning. This theory empowers the role of teaching, experience, and practice in shaping the development of cognitive competence for schooling, while also recognizing the biological basis of cognitive development. Cultural-historical theory is in contrast to the dominant notion in American schools that cognitive competence is a fixed heritable ability that manifests as children progress through the grades. Currently, IQ tests are typically used in schools to measure this fixed ability and to identifty children for special education purposes. However, research suggests (Kline, 1996) that IQ tests measure a combination of sociocultural and biological influences on cognitive development and that it is misleading to consider the results simply biologically based. The use of these tests, especially with CLD students, leads to concerns about possibly misdiagnosing learning disabilities or developmental delays, as well as misinterpreting a child's potential for academic success.

The cultural-historical theory was the collaborative work of Vygotsky and Luria in Russia during the 1920's. Subsequent to this collaborative work, Luria conducted forty years of research devoted to discovering the neuropsychological foundations of higher cognitive functioning. This work led him to formulate a model of cognition which includes three universal functional units which engage in four types of cognitive processing: planning (P), attention (A), and information coding through sequential (S) and simultaneous (S) processing. The PASS+S Dynamic Assessment was constructed to measure these four types of cognitive processing plus the speed of processing (+S), hence the acronym PASS+S. The PASS+S subtests were also devised to match Luria's descriptions of these processes and to ecologically represent the cognitive demands in the classroom context, thereby constituting an alternative assessment of cognitive competence for schooling.

Objectives and Research Questions
The primary objective for the development of the PASS+S is to investigate the application of the cultural-historical theory to the critical issues of cognitive assessment for the increasingly diverse population of students in the schools. More specific related objectives represent how this can be accomplished through meeting existing needs in the area of psychoeducational assessment in the schools, such as: o Provide an alternative assessment to IQ tests, which have been found to be culturally biased and banned by court mandate in California for school purposes with some culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) children o Help to prevent the misdiagnosis of CLD children as learning disabled or developmentally delayed and to reduce the overrepresentation of CLD children in special education programs o Provide a means for identifying gifted CLD children within each sociocultural niche o Provide a measure of basic psychological processing which is required by federal and state regulations for psychoeducation assessments in the schools o Provide a means to measure cognitive processing skills that are modifiable and significantly related to academic achievement o Identify learning styles, or areas of strengths and weaknesses in processing to help design responsive educational activities o Provide an instrument for conducting future research on maximizing cognitive competence for schooling within the classroom.

The major questions under investigation with the current research on the PASS+S are related to its validity and reliability as a measure of cognitive competence for schooling. These questions include: o What is the relationship between the cognitive processing measured by the PASS+S and academic achievement at a cross-section of grade levels? o Is there evidence of developmental changes in cognitive processing with increasing ages of school children? o Is there evidence of sociocultural influences across opportunity niches within the same grade level? o Is there evidence of an effect of formal education on the development of cognitive processing? o Does the relationship between cognitive processing and achievement vary by stratification within a sociocultural norm sample? o Is there evidence of reliability? o Are some of the cognitive processes more reliable than others? o Can evidence of validity and reliability be cross-validated for culturally diverse groups of students?

Test Design
The PASS+S is an individually administered test which takes approximately 45 minutes to adminster and was designed to make accommodations for cultural and linguistic diversity. The test includes a dynamic assessment of the planning task; this is done by administering a pre- and post-planning test with the remaining intervening subtests doubling as training activities. This is a novel design for a dynamic assessment which enables the tasks, rather than a teacher, to provide a standard amount of assistance to the student. This helps clarify the confound common with dynamic assessments between teacher expertise and student cognitive modifiability. The content of the test was intentionally culturally-reduced to include only six colors and four shapes. Limiting the test content made the test adaptable for use with all ages of school children, as well as culturally and linguistically diverse groups of students.

The test results from the PASS+S can be considered to measure a child's level of functioning on the basic cognitive processes and a child's response to assistance or potential for cognitivie socialization. The collection of sociocultural, or "opportunity", norms with diverse groups of students overrepresented in special education can help distinguish between disadvantage and disability. The evaluation of a child within their "opportunity niche" (coined by this author) can help determine whether a child is responding normally, or significantly different, in relation to their opportunities to practice and develop the types of thinking skills represented on cognitive assessments.

For the PASS+S, opportunity norms will constructed according to the three planes of influence (community, interpersonal, and individual) on cognitive development suggested by Rogoff (1995) and recognized by sociocultural researchers. The three planes of influence will be operationalized as national descent, SES, and age, and will be collapsed to create an opportunity niche as the comparison group for the cognitive evaluation of CLD students.

Data Analysis
Initial investigations with the PASS+S were designed to research sociocultural influences on the development of cognitive processing and the relationship between the PASS model and academic achievement (Kline, 1996). Data analysis for these investigations found strong psychometric properties for this instrument which provided support for the PASS+S as a valid measure of cognitive competence for schooling, at least at the first grade level. The PASS+S was found to be significantly related to curriculum-based academic achievement; A highly significant correlation was found for the PASS+S cognitive composite and a curriculum-based achievement composite (r = .65, p < .0001) as well as highly significant correlations with reading, writing and math separately. Psychometric data analysis also found strong evidence for construct, convergent and discriminant validity, as well as sensitivity to developmental changes. A varimax rotation factor analysis also revealed each of the PASS+S subtests to be discretely measured and to prominently load on separate factors.

Summary
The emergence of cultural-historical theory in the fields of educational and developmental psychology has provided an opportunity to develop a new theoretically-based cognitive assessment instrument which take into account the influences of both nature and nurture on cognitive development. This may help resolve the nature-nurture debate fueled by IQ tests and help us "all just get along".

A test based on cultural-historical theory has the potential to distinguish between disadvantage and disability, by the use of sociocultural, or opportunity, norms which compare students to other children who have similar daily routines which shape the development of the types of thinking skills represented on cognitive assessments. This could help prevent the misdiagnosis and overrepresentation of CLD students in special education. Such a test can also help identify gifted and talented CLD children from each opportunity niche so that they can benefit from school enrichment programs aimed at creating academic and community leaders.

The development of the PASS+S Dynamic Assessment is also educationally important for future research in the area of cognitive socialization. The purpose of measurement of cognitive ability in the schools has traditionally been to predict future academic success. But because the cultural-historical theory considers higher cognitive functioning to be a product of sociocultural influences as well as biological factors, the purpose of cognitive assessment can also include "engineering schoolability" in the classroom. Therefore, the PASS+S could be instrumental in this type of research for measuring the effect of educational interventions, for special or regular education, focused on maximizing cognitive processing skills.