Reliable and valid assessment of parenting and child behaviors is critical for clinicians and researchers alike, and observational measures of parenting behaviors are often considered the gold standard for assessing parenting and parent-child interaction quality. The current study sought to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Coder…

Purpose: Psychometrically sound parenting instruments are a critical aid in guiding clinical assessments of adolescent behavioral outcomes, particularly among clinical samples of adolescents. However, there is a paucity of research on these parenting instruments among adolescents with histories of substance use disorders (SUDs) who represent a…

Direct Behavior Rating (DBR) is an efficient method for monitoring changes in student behavior in response to intervention. Emerging research on DBR Multi-Item Scales (DBR-MIS) indicates DBR-MIS has promising characteristics as a progress-monitoring assessment. Specifically, the multiple items within DBR-MIS allow stakeholders to measure specific…

In this article we examined predictive validity of Student Risk Screening Scale for Internalizing and Externalizing (SRSS-IE) scores for use with elementary-age students (N = 4,465) from 14 elementary schools. Results indicated elementary school students with high levels of risk according to fall SRSS-IE scores -- especially those with…

Introduction: We report predictive validity of the newly defined Student Risk Screening Scale -- Internalizing and Externalizing (SRSS-IE 9, with 9 items) when used for the first time by middle and high school teachers from 43 schools. Methods: The sample included 11,773 middle school-aged students representing four geographic regions, and 7,244…

As many as 1 in 5 youth in the United States experience social, emotional, and behavioral problems. However, many students with mental health concerns are unidentified and do not receive adequate care. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the factor structure, measurement invariance, and the concurrent and predictive validity of the Early…

Direct Behavior Rating (DBR) is an efficient method for monitoring changes in student behavior in response to intervention. Emerging research on DBR Multi-Item Scales (DBR-MIS) indicates that DBR-MIS has promising characteristics as a progress- monitoring assessment. Specifically, the multiple items within DBR-MIS allow stakeholders to measure…

The Me and My School Questionnaire (M&MS) is a brief self-report measure of elementary school students' (ages 8-12) social, emotional, and behavioral challenges. As there is a need for brief self-report screening measures for students in elementary, or primary, school, this study examined the factor structure and measurement invariance of the…

Background: The Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale (EBPAS) is a widely used tool, but it has not been adapted and validated for use in schools, the most common setting where youth access behavioral health services. This study examined the factor structure, psychometric properties, and criterion-related validity of the school-adapted EBPAS in a…

The purpose this study was to evaluate the reliability, validity, and accuracy of scores from the "Intervention Selection Profile--Function (ISP-Function)": a brief functional assessment tool founded upon Direct Behavior Rating (DBR) methodology. Participants included 34 teacher-student dyads. Using the ISP-Function, teachers rated the…

The "Psychological Sense of School Membership" (PSSM) scale has been used for more than 20 years to measure students' sense of school belonging, yet its psychometric properties have had limited examination with pre-adolescent children. This study investigated the utility and psychometrics of the PSSM in three primary school samples from…

The purpose of the current study was to examine the validity and diagnostic accuracy of the "Intervention Selection Profile-Social Skills" (ISP-SS), a brief social skills assessment tool intended for use with students in need of Tier 2 intervention. Participants included 160 elementary and middle school students who had been identified…

Researchers often question the validity of multi-informant assessments among adolescents with child welfare involvement. Yet, within other clinical populations, prior research finds that multi-informant reports have a discernable structure characterized by discrete patterns of agreement and disagreement. This structure "tracks"…

Emotion dysregulation is associated with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and confers risk for behavior problems and functional impairment; however, there is little guidance on best practices for measurement in adolescents. We developed a parent-report version of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-P)). Evidence of…

There is a growing need for valid measures that can be administered efficiently in school settings to assess the impact of school-based preventive interventions. The current paper aimed to establish a balance among assessment efficiency, reliability, and the measurement properties of an instrument widely used to assess the impact of school-based…