Parents play a major role in children's development and have unique opportunities to observe a wide range of their children's social-emotional behavior at home and in their communities. Yet parents' input via universal screening assessments into school-based social-emotional learning (SEL) programs for their children has been limited by a paucity…

The term "intervention validity" refers to the extent to which assessment results can be used to guide the selection of interventions and evaluation of outcomes. In this article, the authors review the defining attributes of rating scales that distinguish them from other assessment tools, assumptions regarding the use of rating scales to…

Nine comprehensive observations were conducted of 24 preschoolers (8 with disabilities) in free play settings, with social behavior categories based on the work of Strain. Comparison of partial and complete observational records demonstrated that at least five observations were required to represent the children's social behavior adequately.…

Data were gathered from videotaped recordings of two preschool children engaged in unstructured free play over 12 days each. Observers coded behavior from the videotapes and completed a behavior rating scale for each child after every two observation sessions. Teachers also completed two behavior rating scales per child. Results indicated that at…

The validity of a behavioral rating scale for identifying gifted and creative students was investigated for three ethnic groups by socioeconomic status. These groups were mid to high socio-economic status (SES) Anglo, low SES Anglo, and low SES Hispanic. The Scales for Rating the Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students (SRBCSS) was studied…

Investigated construct validity of Behavior Intervention Rating Scale (BIRS) to develop instrument to measure teachers' perceptions of treatment acceptability and perceived effectiveness of classroom interventions. Oblique factor analysis revealed three factors (Acceptability, Effectiveness, Time of Effect). Correlational analysis demonstrated…

Describes assessment of children's social behavior using Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) and an item analysis protocol (IAP). Examines relationships among mother and father pairs, teacher SSRS ratings, and descriptions of kindergarten through 4th-grade students. Finds mothers' and fathers' SSRS frequency and importance ratings for their…

Six methods for assessing children's social skills are described and evaluated. They are sociometrics, ratings by others, naturalistic observations, behavioral role plays, behavioral interviews, and self-report measures. Issues of definition, classification, and social validity are examined to provide a context for understanding problems and…

The article documents relationships between adaptive behavior and social skills. Social competence deficits in mildly handicapped children are classified into four types: skill deficits, performance deficits, self-control skill deficits, and self-control performance deficits. Assessment procedures for classification and intervention purposes are…

Devereaux Elementary School Behavior Rating Scale scores of 64 handicapped and nonhandicapped Anglo and Mexican American children were analyzed for effects of ethnicity and diagnostic labels on Anglo teachers' ratings of children's behaviors in mainstream classrooms. Significant differences by ethnicity appeared in ratings of…