The Hearts and Flowers (H&F) task is a computerized executive functioning (EF) assessment that has been used to measure EF from early childhood to adulthood. It provides data on accuracy and reaction time (RT) across three different task blocks (hearts, flowers, and mixed). However, there is a lack of consensus in the field on how to score the…

The purpose of this report is to investigate the feasibility of constructing a school-level measure of students' academic growth from kindergarten to grade 3, and to assess the validity and precision of that measure. The study measured schoolwide student growth for reading and math using student growth percentiles based on Maryland's 2014/15…

Social and emotional learning (SEL) has become essential in educational settings and human development. Federal policy has begun to incorporate SEL factors into education accountability metrics. Schools, institutes, and scholars have started implementing SEL in K-12 educational contexts. Social interactions and emotions are a daily part of…

Low cost, non-invasive instruments for the identification of high academic potential in early childhood education and care are scarce, and the complexity of cognitive development indicates that combinations of screening instruments are needed. This study investigates the reliability and validity of three instruments (individually and in…

This study aimed to extend previous literature comparing continuous methods of data collection to estimation data, but this time implementing the data collection procedures within a group discrete trial teaching format with three individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Group discrete trial teaching was conducted in a classroom setting…

Research Findings: This study provides psychometric validation of the Classroom Engagement Scale (CES), a 14-item, teacher-report, formative assessment of behavioral engagement. It is currently used for all kindergarten children in a large, urban school district where it is embedded in the report card. Multi-level factor analysis revealed two…

Federal law requires states to develop systems to hold K-12 schools accountable for the outcomes of all students. This includes using data to illuminate how historically marginalized groups of students, including English Learners (ELs), are disadvantaged by systems that fail to meet their distinct needs. But for this to be useful for school…

Whether a child is ready for school is of interest for different parties involved. With a person-centred approach, the present study examined 123 kindergarteners (59 girls, 64 boys) regarding their early executive functions and social skills profiles. Children were 6-7 years of age at the first measurement point (M = 6; 6, SD = 4.22, range = 5;…

Narrative skills are highly predictive of linguistic development as well as future school performances. Yet, children with low socio-economic status (SES) background present specific difficulties for these skills. Interactive reading sessions could have beneficial effects on narrative capacities. We analyze the effects of an IR intervention…

Background: Value-added modeling (VAM) has been used to rank teachers and assess teacher and school quality. The apparent relationship between value-added teacher rankings and gains in student performance provide a foundation for the view that the contribution of teachers to student performance is the largest factor influencing student…

The present study examines an ecological model for intervention use to explain student vocabulary performance in a multi-tiered intervention setting. A teacher self-report measure composed of factors hypothesized to influence intervention use at multiple levels (i.e., individual, intervention, and system level) was administered to 54 teachers and…

The Academic Competence Evaluation Scales (ACES; DiPerna and Elliott in School Psychol Rev 31(3):293, 2002) is a 73-item teacher rating scale that assesses academic skills and enablers. The ACES Short Form (ASF) is a newly extracted 32-item short form of the ACES that has promising psychometric properties (Anthony and DiPerna in School Psychol Q…

At least half of states administer or are developing kindergarten entry assessments. In fall 2017 the Illinois State Board of Education began requiring teachers to report data on every child's skills at kindergarten entry using the Kindergarten Individual Development Survey, which was adapted from a California kindergarten assessment. This study…

Drawing on data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class 1998-1999 of the United States, this article evaluates teacher expectancy effects on achievement growth in kindergarten. We attempt to disentangle teacher expectancy effects from omitted variable bias or predictive validity by exploiting counterfactual predictions in…

At least half of states administer or are developing kindergarten entry assessments. In fall 2017 the Illinois State Board of Education began requiring teachers to report data on every child's skills at kindergarten entry using the Kindergarten Individual Development Survey. State and local stakeholders have asked for more information on the…