Classroom management practices are critical to the success of teachers and students, and a growing number of programs have been developed to improve these practices. However, there has been less investigation into observational tools to assess classroom management and exploration of whether it can be measured consistently by observers across…

In the last several decades, investigators have made remarkable strides in developing and evaluating school-based prevention and intervention strategies for elementary school-age youth focused on the development of healthy social, emotional, and behavioral skills. Although there has been rigorous examination of the efficacy of some of these…

The method of Direct Behavior Rating (DBR) incorporates aspects of both systematic direct observation and behavior rating scales to provide an efficient means to collect time series data. This study extended the development and evaluation of DBR Single-Item Scales (DBR-SIS) as a behavior assessment tool. Eighty-eight undergraduate students used…

Trained classroom observers used the Direct Observation Form (DOF; McConaughy & Achenbach, 2009) to rate observations of 163 6- to 11-year-old children in their school classrooms. Participants were assigned to four groups based on a parent diagnostic interview and parent and teacher rating scales: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder…

The dependability of externalizing behavior composites and subscale scores from the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition, Teacher Rating Scale-Child (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004) and the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment, Teacher's Report Form for Ages 6-18 (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) was investigated.…

This article reviews selected issues and techniques in interviewing, direct observation, rating scales, sociometry, and associative techniques as used in the context of preschool assessment. Special problems encountered in assessing the social and emotional functioning of preschool children are discussed. (Author/LMO)

Responds to previous article by McConaughy by discussing key issues and assumptions which underlie use of behavior rating scales for assessing children's emotional problems. Advances three arguments supporting use of structured informant reports in social-emotional assessment: informant reports initiate intervention efforts; reliable instruments…

Responds to previous article by McConaughy on use of behavior rating scales to assess children's behavioral and emotional problems. Analyzes advances in syndromal assessment described by McConaughy with respect to two related themes: what can be said with confidence and what can be said that might be helpful. (Author/NB)

Author of article (this issue) describing research program to advance assessment of children's behavioral and emotional problems; presenting conceptual framework for multiaxial empirically based assessment; and summarizing research efforts to develop cross-informant scales for scoring parent, teacher, and self-reports responds to commentaries on…

Reviews research to derive cross-informant syndrome scales for 1991 profiles of Child Behavior Checklist, Teacher's Report Form, and Youth Self-Report. Summarizes studies of reliability and validity, as well as findings on cross-informant agreement, stability of parent ratings, cross-informant prediction, and comparisons of profile scores for…

School psychologists have experienced difficulties in assessing students' behavior disorders, because of lack of training and problems associated with the traditional medical model of abnormal behavior. An alternative assessment model is described in terms of its five principles: problem solving; functional analysis; multiple operationalism;…

A mail survey about the use of instruments in 9 assessment areas was answered by 389 school psychologists. Comparison with a similar survey 10 years earlier suggests no decline in assessment overall, although emphasis is switching away from intelligence testing, toward achievement testing, behavior rating, and adaptive measurements. (SLD)