Strength-based assessment has achieved acceptance from educational, mental health, and social service professionals as a means to measuring emotional and behavioral strengths of children. Several standardized, norm-referenced tests have been developed to assess these strengths; however, the primary mode of assessment is via informal interviews of…

Universal screening continues to be a missed opportunity for addressing mental health in schools. The current study compared three separate self-report screening tools: the Behavior Assessment System for Children-Third Edition: Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BASC-3 BESS), Youth Internalizing and Externalizing Problems Screener (YIEPS),…

Over the past several decades, the education, mental health, and social service fields have witnessed a significant shift in the focus of assessment of children moving from a solely deficit-based approach to a model incorporating strengths and competencies, which has been referred to as strength-based assessment. The "Behavioral and Emotional…

There is limited research on job-embedded professional development designed to promote paraprofessionals' use of research-based strategies to support students with disruptive behaviors. This study serves as the first clustered randomized controlled trial to investigate the efficacy of the Behavior Support Coaching for Paraprofessional Model…

Responsive service delivery frameworks rely on the use of screening approaches to identify students in need of support and to guide subsequent assessment and intervention efforts. However, limited empirical investigations have been directed to informing how often screening should occur for social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties in school…

Culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students face more complex social-emotional and socio-cultural challenges than their mainstream peers as part of their development and socialization in U.S. schools. Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) has been found to be beneficial in the academic and social success of all students; however, limited…

Child assessment practices have undergone, and are continuing to undergo, significant changes. Among the most prominent changes is the movement toward measuring child well-being, in general, and emotional and behavioral strengths, in particular. The Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale (BERS) is a strength-based instrument which is widely used in…

Given the increasing international calls for more strength-based assessment, there is a need for European schools, mental health programs and family service agencies to identify psychometrically sound instruments in their native languages. The purpose of this study was to examine the convergent and concurrent validity for [?] the Behavioral and…

The present study investigated evidence of the construct validity of scores from the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale (BERS-3), which is a multi-informant assessment designed to measure the behavioral and emotional strengths of school-aged youth. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the degree to which BERS-3 scores differed between…

Hispanic-American youth have been identified as a high-risk group for developing behavioral and emotional difficulties. Currently, there exist few behavioral and emotional screening measures targeting young children, with even fewer accessible to the Spanish speaking populations in the U.S. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether…

Given the steady increase of students from diverse backgrounds in the U.S. educational system, in particular immigrant and Latino students, it is important to consider how to best support all students within our schools. The present study focuses on the Behavior Assessment System for Children-Second Edition (BASC-2) Behavioral and Emotional…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between teacher-implemented screening measures used to identify social, emotional, and behavioral risk. To this end, 5 screening options were evaluated: (a) Direct Behavior Rating-Single Item Scales (DBR-SIS), (b) Social Skills Improvement System-Performance Screening Guide (SSiS), (c)…

This study aimed to describe problem behaviors and psychosocial strengths, examine the problem-strength interrelations, and evaluate profiles of problems and strengths in youth with Down syndrome (DS). The community-based sample consisted of 67 parents of children with DS aged between 4 and 19 years. Parents reported about the developmental age…

Many behavioural and emotional characteristics are associated with children's peer relationships. The purpose of this study is to examine behavioural and emotional strengths of sociometrically popular, rejected, controversial, neglected, and average children. 773 third-grade children (51% girls) are assessed with a sociometric questionnaire and…

High quality educational settings play a crucial role in preparing a child to enter kindergarten, but little work has explored how outdoor play and complex physical activity outside school and childcare settings promote school readiness among preschoolers. To address this gap, the present study explored connections among school readiness with…