{"id":423,"date":"2026-07-21T09:30:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T16:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coenewscenter.sites.unlv.edu\/?p=423"},"modified":"2026-07-21T09:30:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T16:30:42","slug":"assessment-starts-with-teaching-holmes-scholar-ayo-aborishade-is-reframing-assessment-in-special-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coenewscenter.sites.unlv.edu\/?p=423","title":{"rendered":"Assessment Starts With Teaching: Holmes Scholar Ayo Aborishade Is Reframing Assessment In Special Education"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Originally posted: Jun. 2, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By:\u00a0Sakinah Musa<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Low test scores often lead us to believe students are struggling academically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what if certain assessments do not fully measure students\u2019 abilities in the first place? How can we say assessments are accurate if they don\u2019t reflect students\u2019 unique learning styles and cultural backgrounds?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These questions are at the heart of Ayo Aborishade\u2019s doctoral research. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During her undergraduate studies in Nigeria, she had encountered an assessment task that required the students to tie their shoelaces. However, these students only wore shoes with buckles or Velcro straps. This task was one of numerous assessment items that weren\u2019t contextually relevant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when I realized some of the children weren\u2019t failing because they lacked the ability. The test just wasn\u2019t culturally relevant,\u201d Ayo shared. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, when she began her master’s in Special Education at UNLV, the American Psychological Association acknowledged the role of assessment<\/a> in promoting racial inequities. It became clear to her then that there was a gap. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat moment connected my experiences in Nigeria and the U.S. It showed me that this issue is systemic,\u201d she said<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Ayo is seeking a way to bridge the gap by examining the cultural validity of assessments.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Nigeria to Nevada<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ayo\u2019s interest in education grew from being raised in a family of educators. When her father became disabled from a terminal illness, she decided to connect her passion for education with disabilities by studying Special Education at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, while presenting at an international conference in Tanzania, she met UNLV professor Monica Brown<\/a>, who had been the only person in the room to acknowledge the strengths of her presentation. That encounter inspired Ayodele\u2019s interest in pursuing her graduate studies at UNLV. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe way she represented UNLV in that space made me want to learn more about the institution,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been seven years since, and Ayo is now a third-year doctoral student in Special Education and a Holmes scholar<\/a> under the mentorship of the Dunn Endowed Chair for Educational Assessment, Sharolyn Pollard-Durodola, who serves as the program\u2019s faculty coordinator.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Assessment Matters<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In special education, assessments play a critical role in determining whether students qualify for services, what supports they receive, and, sometimes, even which classroom settings they are placed in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what role does cultural validity play?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A student may struggle on a test not because they are incapable, but because the test assumes experiences, vocabulary, or cultural references that are irrelevant to them. For multilingual students or students from different cultural backgrounds, that disconnect can influence their performance in ways that families and educators may not immediately recognize. This poses a risk of misidentifying students and assigning inaccurate interventions in the classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ayo\u2019s doctoral research centers on a major gap in special education assessment: the lack of cultural validity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By intersecting assessment and culture, Ayo\u2019s research aims to reframe how the abilities of culturally and linguistically diverse students are measured. Her work specifically targets learning disabilities and emotional and behavioral disorders, categories with a disproportionate representation of students of color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt raises the question: what\u2019s really being measured?\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assessment Starts With Teaching<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Ayo\u2019s research examines assessment in special education, she emphasizes that the issue begins earlier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAssessment starts with teaching,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This statement also reflects her renewed outlook on education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStudents come to the classroom not only with learning challenges, but also with their culture. Culture is the lens through which they perceive the world and engage with learning,” Ayo shared. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cIt is critical to see students’ cultural realities as assets in learning,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ayo advocates for classrooms where teachers treat students\u2019 cultural and linguistic identities as assets rather than barriers. When students feel a sense of belonging, they are more engaged and better positioned to succeed in assessments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she moves toward her dissertation, Ayo\u2019s next steps include exploring how to prepare teachers to conduct culturally valid assessments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want assessments to see students in their wholeness.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally posted: Jun. 2, 2026 By:\u00a0Sakinah Musa Low test scores often lead us to believe students are struggling academically.  But what if certain assessments do not fully measure students\u2019 abilities in the first place? How can we say assessments are accurate if they don\u2019t reflect students\u2019 unique learning styles and cultural backgrounds? These questions are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[16,25,33],"class_list":["post-423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-early-childhood-multilingual-and-special-education","tag-alumni","tag-sakinah-musa","tag-sponsor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coenewscenter.sites.unlv.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coenewscenter.sites.unlv.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coenewscenter.sites.unlv.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coenewscenter.sites.unlv.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coenewscenter.sites.unlv.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=423"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coenewscenter.sites.unlv.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":425,"href":"https:\/\/coenewscenter.sites.unlv.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423\/revisions\/425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coenewscenter.sites.unlv.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coenewscenter.sites.unlv.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coenewscenter.sites.unlv.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}