(2019). Further Examination of a Critical Assumption Underlying the Dual-Discrepancy/Consistency Approach to Specific Learning Disability Identification. School Psychology Review: Vol. 48, No. 3, pp. 207-221.
Adaptive behavior scales are vital in assessing children and adolescents who experience a range of disabling conditions in school settings. This article presents the results of an evaluation of the design characteristics, norming, scale characteristics, reliability and validity evidence, and bias identification studies supporting 14 norm-referenced, informant-based interviews and rating scales designed to measure adaptive behaviors. To derive these results, the manuals for each of these scales were reviewed using a standardized coding procedure, and information about each scale was double-coded by reviewers. Findings reveal that several evidence-based adaptive behavior scales are available to school psychologists. Concluding recommendations address selection and use of adaptive behavior scales as part of a comprehensive assessment, using the optimal methods of administration of adaptive behavior scales, and interpreting resultant scores that have demonstrated the highest levels of reliability and the largest body of validity evidence.
Global composites (e.g., IQs) calculated in intelligence tests are interpreted as indexes of the general factor of intelligence, or psychometric g. It is therefore important to understand the proportion of variance in those global composites that is explained by g. In this study, we calculated this value, referred to as hierarchical omega, using large-scale, nationally representative norming sample data from 3 popular individually administered tests of intelligence for children and adolescents. We also calculated the proportion of variance explained in the global composites by g and the group factors, referred to as omega total, or composite reliability, for comparison purposes. Within each battery, g was measured equally well. Using total sample data, we found that 82%-83% of the total test score variance was explained by g. The group factors were also measured in the global composites, with both g and group factors explaining 89%-91% of the total test score variance for the total samples. Global composites are primarily indexes of g, but the group factors, as a whole, also explain a meaningful amount of variance.
.The purpose of this study was to develop short-duration assessment measures hypothesized to be valid samples of early mathematical behavior. The Early Numeracy Skill Indicators were designed using a curriculum-based assessment approach. Participants included 64 kindergarten children from a school district in the rural Northeast. Design components featured longitudinal correlation analyses conducted over a 26-week period. Decision analyses were completed using receiver operating characteristic techniques. Results indicated that selected Early Numeracy Skill Indicators tasks produced reliable, valid, and diagnostically accurate scores in relation to established criterion measures. Implications focus on the use and development of the measures as a means to prevent failure and enhance mathematics competency. Further, these tools complement the growing availability of early mathematics curriculum-based measures.
.The purpose of this research was to examine whether variation in directions and timer visibility affect performance on curriculum based measure of oral reading (CBM-R) probes. Third-grade students (N = 72) were assigned to conditions in which directions emphasized children doing their best reading, their fastest reading, their most accurate reading, or their most expressive reading. In addition, students were assigned to either a condition in which the stopwatch was hidden or a condition was overtly timed. Results from 4 (directions) by 2 (timer visibility) factorial analyses of variance revealed no statistically significant differences across conditions in the number of reading errors made, the number of words read correctly per minute, or how expressively the students read. Furthermore, experimental conditions did not produce differential relations between oral reading fluency and reading comprehension scores. In contrast to several recent studies, results indicate that students are relatively impervious to variation in curriculum-based measure of oral reading directions and timer visibility.
