This article and its Online Supplemental Material describe the development of the California School Wellness Index (CSWI), a tool to aid mental health research and practice in schools, specifically for wellness screening and monitoring. The CSWI is a 0-40 composite index derived from responses to the Brief Multidimensional Student Life…

The assessment of psychosocial strengths in children and adolescents has predominately focused on the measurement of single traits and constructs, such as grit (Christopoulou, Lakioti, Pezirkianidis, Karakasidou, & Stalikas, 2018), optimism (Oberle, Guhn, Gadermann, Thomson, & Schonert-Reichl, 2018), hope (Pedrotti, 2018), and gratitude…

In this report I share the results of a document-based, comparative case study aimed at increasing our understanding about the potential utility of state kindergarten entry assessments (KEAs) to provide evidence of English learner (EL) kindergartners' knowledge and skills and, in turn, inform kindergarten teachers' instruction. Using a sample of 9…

Our UC Santa Barbara research team engages in ongoing efforts to enhance and validate the Social Emotional Health Surveys (Primary, Secondary, and Higher Education). The initiative to enhance the secondary version is supported by an Institute of Education Sciences grant (#R305A160157, 2016-2020), which provides funding to refine, standardize, and…

In California, individuals with autism and co-occurring mental disorders, and their families, face two serious barriers when attempting to access the mental health services they need. The first is that the State Mental Health Specialty Service guidelines specifically exclude autism as a qualifying primary diagnosis for eligibility for mental…

The population of Spanish-speaking preschoolers in the United States continues to increase and there is a significant need to develop psychometrically sound early language and literacy screening measures to accurately capture children's ability in Spanish. In this paper, we describe the innovative design and calibration process of the new…

ATTEMPTS WERE MADE TO DISCOVER WHETHER THE OBSERVABLE BEHAVIOR SYMPTOMS OF YOUNG CHILDREN IN THE SCHOOL SETTING, WHEN MEASURED BY OBJECTIVE SCREENING METHODS, WILL REFLECT FAMILIES THAT HAVE DISORDERED BEHAVIOR. THE OBJECTIVES INCLUDED TESTING THE VALIDITY OF TWO BEHAVIOR RATING SCALES, DEVELOPING A SINGLE RATING TEST, AND ANALYZING THE…

Although accurate assessment of bullying is essential to intervention planning and the evaluation of bullying prevention programs, assessment has been called the "Achilles' heel" of bullying research (Cornell, Sheras, & Cole, 2006). Problems have been cited about variations in definitions and time frames used, whether or not to…

In light of debate about the developmentally inappropriate and culturally questionable use of standardized testing for placement of preschool children, alternative approaches to screening and assessment are required. The impact of a Head Start program upon children must involve documentation of physical and mental health, speech, hearing, vision,…