College of Education

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    Attention, Emotion Understanding, and Social Competence in Preschool Children: Construct Definitions, Measurement, and Relationships
    (2013) Genova-Latham, Maria de los Angeles; Teglasi, Hedwig; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Available literature regarding the relations between attention, emotion understanding, and social competence is limited in its utility given discrepancies in construct definitions and measurement. The current study examined the relations between attention, as defined from a temperament perspective, emotion understanding, and social competence in preschool children, emphasizing specificity in the conceptualization and assessment of constructs. Attention was measured via the Structured Temperament Interview (STI) and the Childhood Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ), parent-report measures. Emotion understanding was assessed with the Emotion Comprehension Test (ECT), a performance assessment. The ECT differentiated between a child's ability to identify emotions in others based on facial expressions, situational cues, and behavioral cues. Social competence was measured via teacher ratings on the Social Competence Behavior Evaluation questionnaire (SCBE). Exploratory factor analyses of the STI revealed a two factor solution, including factors Low Distraction from Task, High Duration of Attention and Low Distraction from Emotional Investment. The former demonstrated multiple relations with the Effortful Control factor of the CBQ in correlational analyses, whereas the latter demonstrated multiple relations with the Negative Affect factor. Quantitative data, as well as qualitative analyses of themes emerging from parents' narrative STI responses, indicated that the STI encompasses both self-regulatory and reactive dimensions of attention, as well as features of emotionality and interest. Correlational and hierarchical regression analyses indicated that dimensions of attention including distractibility, attention span/persistence, and attentional focusing are related to a child's ability to identify emotions in others based on situational cues. Self-regulatory and reactive dimensions of attention, as assessed via the CBQ, demonstrated relationships with social competence outcomes, though no relations were evident between STI factors and SCBE scales. Ultimately, though dimensions of attention demonstrated relations with facets of both emotion understanding and social competence, in no case were dimensions of both attention and emotion understanding related to the same facet of social competence.
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    Reading Comprehension and its Assessment : Aligning Operationalization with Conceptualization of the Construct
    (2012) Rahman, Taslima; Alexander, Patricia A.; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The current study explored ways to improve reading comprehension assessments. Available assessments appeared misaligned with views of comprehension that are emerging in the reading research literature. Further, the measurement models as currently applied to comprehension assessment do not take into account the cognitive perspective of the construct when estimating proficiency. It has been argued that an assessment, an evidentiary argument, when based on a theory of the construct can offer more informative estimates of proficiency and improve validity of the inferences drawn from those estimates (Mislevy, Steinberg, & Almond, 2003). For this study, the design and the analytic approach for an assessment of comprehension were grounded on a premise that comprehension is influenced by task attributes (e.g., text type or target mental representation) as well as reader attributes (e.g., prior knowledge or interest). Construction of the comprehension measure and the ensuing psychometric analyses were framed following Kintsch's (1998) Construction-Integration model and Alexander's (1997) Model of Domain Learning. The resulting measure was administered to 160 eighth-grade students with no known status of receiving services for special education. In completing the comprehension task, the students read four text passages and answered a set of text passage-related questions, eight per passage. Those passages varied by text type and text topic, and questions varied by the target mental representations of a text and relations among the events of a situation described in the text. In addition, participants answered a set of questions for self-reporting about their familiarity with and interest in the topic of a text passage that they had read. In synthesizing the data, a particular form of the Linear Logistic Test Model introduced by Fischer (1973) was applied within a Bayesian framework. When the attributes were incorporated in the measurement model, the comprehension proficiency estimates changed in a way that reflected positive effects of topic familiarity and topic interest. Further, the task and reader attributes considered in the study contributed to estimates of item difficulties. Thus, the study, based on empirical evidence, suggests that developing a comprehension assessment more aligned with views of the construct offered in the literature is indeed viable.
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    AN EXAMINATION OF THE ELIGIBILITY PROCESS OF THIRD, FOURTH, AND FIFTH GRADERS IDENTIFIED UNDER THE SPECIAL EDUCATION CATEGORY OF SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITIES
    (2011) Schwartz, Susan Glembin; McLaughlin, Margaret J; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The category of Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) accounts for almost 50% of the students identified for special education services in America (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education, 2010). The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which the participating school system's (PSS) Special Education Procedural Guide was utilized by the Case Study Committee (CSC) to determine eligibility under category D-Learning Impaired-Specific Learning Disability (D-LI-SLD). The design of the study was descriptive utilizing structured record reviews. Eligibility Reports were extracted from the electronic special education database EXCENT ONLINETM for 69 students identified as D-LI-SLD within the PSS. The students were receiving special education services during the school year 2009-2010 though they were not necessarily determined eligible during the 2009-2010 school year. The Eligibility Reports were examined according to the criteria of academic achievement and processing deficit. According to the PSS, the academic achievement criterion in math, reading, or language arts had to be found near or below the 10th percentile. The identified processing deficit criterion was a disorder in (a) processing; (b) production of language; and/or (c) production of information. Both criteria were examined separately and in tandem to determine consistency. Evidence was also gathered for the inclusion of information from other sources (e.g., parents/guardians, the student, therapists) and the identified area of adverse impact. Results indicated variability and vagueness among the Eligibility Reports. Though slightly more than half of the Eligibility Reports (57.97%) contained information that identified D-LI-SLD within the appropriate criteria, the remaining Eligibility Reports only contained one criterion or neither criteria for the determination of eligibility. Recommendations were made to make the eligibility process more comprehensive and consistent.
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    AN INVESTIGATION OF ASSESSMENT AND IEP DEVELOPMENT IN THE FUNCTIONING AREAS OF SOCIAL, BEHAVIORAL, AND COMMUNICATION OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS
    (2011) Sigerseth, Susan Carol; Kohl, Frances L; Special Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are life-long disabilities which manifest impairments in social skills, communication skills, and restricted, repetitive behaviors (DSM-IV, 1994). The purpose of this study was to investigate assessment and Individualized Education Program (IEP) development among high school students with an ASD, focusing on the assessment of social, behavioral, and communication skills. The design of this study was descriptive utilizing structured record reviews. Assessment selections and outcomes leading to IEP development were documented for 16 high school students with an ASD during the 2009-2010 school year. The assessment records of each participant were examined to determine what assessment domains had been requested and assessed, extracting information on social, behavioral, and communication skills, and which assessment instruments were used. Additionally, the IEP was examined to determine what instructional goals and objectives were written in the areas of social, behavioral, and communication. Variability among student records made retrieving assessment data difficult. Assessments that had been requested were not always given and assessments were given that had not been requested. Assessment domains did not yield basic information they were intended to provide. Although on average half of the students' IEPs contained goals that were social, behavioral, and/or communication, these goals and objectives were neither rigorous enough for the academic level of the student nor lead to independence to be successful, productive adults.
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    The Emotion Comprehension Test: Selected Psychometric Properties of a New Measure of Emotion Understanding for Preschoolers
    (2009) Gustafson, Emily Anne; Teglasi, Hedwig; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This study examines the psychometric properties, including internal consistency and item difficulty of a new measure of emotion understanding through quantitative analysis. Intercorrelations between the three subtest of the measure, correlations with age and gender, and response patterns were also examined. Emotion understanding is the ability to identify the emotions of others from facial expressions and behaviors and to understand what emotions are likely to be elicited by common social situations. Emotion understanding begins to emerge in the preschool years and serves as the foundation for social competence. The Emotion Comprehension Test (ECT) is a new measure of emotion understanding for preschoolers, which uses photographs of real children to depict natural emotional facial expressions to assess emotion identification. The measure also uses puppets to act out social situations associated with common emotions and behaviors associated with emotions. Internal consistency of the three subtests were found to be r = .699 for the Emotion Identification subtest, r = .805 for the Emotion - Situations subtest, and r = .614 for the Emotion - Behaviors subtest.
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    Assessment of Social Competence and Problem Behavior: The Psychometric Properties of a Social Competency Rating Form
    (2007-06-26) Nebbergall, Allison Joan; Gottfredson, Gary D.; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Intervention programs commonly target the development of social competencies and the prevention of problem behaviors among children. Practical assessment measures are necessary for evaluating these interventions. Examination of popularly used instruments reveals the need for a brief rating scale that measures both social competencies and problem behaviors. The Social Competency Rating Form (Gottfredson et al., 2002) is a brief 29-item scale designed to be user-friendly and closely aligned with the objectives of cognitive-behavioral social skills training programs for adolescents. It also serves as a research tool in studying social competence and problem behaviors, especially in the context of evaluating intervention programs. This study shows an adaptation of the SCRF to be a reliable and valid measure for use with elementary school children.