The purpose of this article is to underscore why we need to maintain the presence of comprehensive evaluations in the identification of students with specific learning disabilities (SLDs). Response to intervention (RTI) models hold great hope for early instruction, and the reduction of the overrepresentation of students in special education who…

Reviews literature on curriculum-based measurement (CBM), most radical of curriculum-based assessment procedures designed to assess academic behavior directly from curriculum as basis for evaluation and remediation. Examines conceptual and psychometric problems associated with CBM as they relate to eligibility decision making and programing for…

Surveys school psychologists to examine the acceptability of methods used to assess the cognitive ability of language minority students. Responses indicated that the use of a bilingual school psychologist, and the use of tests in English when a student is dominant in English were usually or always acceptable. Sometimes or usually acceptable were…

Notes that accountability and efficacy have become increasingly important components of program standards. Presents program evaluation study designed and implemented by school psychologists which demonstrates a methodology for evaluating elementary-school-based counseling programs. The research demonstrates gains made by those referred for…

Examines the problem of assessing group process in a collaborative problem-solving situation. Results reveal that groups engaging in behaviors that facilitated collaboration obtained higher group and individual accuracy scores on a challenging problem set. Proposes that examining collaborative group process and outcomes offers a new direction in…

Fear over violence in schools has prompted increased requests for psychologists, educators, and law enforcement professionals to assist in preventing future school violence incidents. Attempts to lay a foundation for developing effective assessment and prevention approaches by first distinguishing planned school-based attacks from other forms of…

This article discusses the current issues involved in the evaluation of children who have both intellectual gifts and a specific learning disability (SLD) in reading. Given recent changes in federal special education law (i.e., the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004), the use of a unified assessment model that…

Three dimensions (namely, predetermination of questions, interviewer response options, and breadth of content explored), which appear to determine assessment interview structure and format, are described and operationally defined, and then combined into a conceptual model indicating 27 different assessment interview formats. This paradigm affords…

Judges (N=10) scored items from the Comprehension, Similarities, and Vocabulary subtests of the WISC-R. Five were inexperienced undergraduates and five were experienced Phds. Overall, there were no appreciable differences in the percentages of agreement between the two groups. (Author)

Reviews information that will assist in the development of evaluation efforts for school-based health centers (SBHCs). A review of evaluation theory, ideas for evaluation of SBHCs, challenges to implementing research in schools, and future directions for evaluation efforts are presented. (Contains 52 references and 3 tables.) (GCP)

Administered Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI), Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R), and Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test (EOWPVT) to 70 preschoolers identified at-risk. PPVT-R and EOWPVT were found to be significantly correlated with Verbal and Full Scale Intelligence Quotient (IQ) scores of…

Reports on a survey investigating the use of dynamic assessment and other nontraditional techniques among school psychologists (N=226). Results indicated that 39% of respondents reported using dynamic assessment techniques once a year or more. The most frequently endorsed reasons for not using dynamic assessment were lack of knowledge and time…

Investigates differences between two types of reading probe material to monitor students' oral reading fluency over time. Reading sources were the curriculum in which the child was being instructed at school, and a set of generic (curriculum-independent) passages. Results indicated that students read significantly more words correct in the generic…

The research reported here has suggested some directions for future research designed to specify those environmental conditions that are most likely to lead to growth in internal control among children. (Author)