One of the best-known legal cases regarding assessment practices is from the state of California. The Larry P. v. Riles (hereafter Larry P.) class action lawsuit was initially brought in San Francisco in 1971 to challenge the use of IQ tests to determine the placement of black children in classes for the “educable mentally retarded.” Several black children who had been placed in special education classes for the mentally retarded in the San Francisco Unified School District, including the student known as “Larry P.,” were selected to represent the class of black students in California classified as mentally retarded on the basis of IQ test results. The suit was brought against Wilson Riles, the superintendent of public instruction for the state of California, members of ...