Browsing by Subject "School Psychology"
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Examining the potential use of instructionally-relevant assessment data in early writing.(2012-06) Parker, David CharlesThe writing performance of many school-aged children is consistently below levels necessary to produce positive outcomes. Early intervention frameworks are designed to help remedy this problem before it becomes more severe, but a key feature of early intervention frameworks—the use of data for targeting interventions—has not been sufficiently researched. This study examined the role of data from curriculum-based assessment for instructional design (CBA-ID) for targeting interventions in early writing. Participants included 147 first grade students from a larger study conducted in the Southeastern United States. Each student was identified as struggling in early literacy using measures of beginning reading. Students were placed into a supplementary writing intervention with tiers of support that were more (4 times per week for 45 min) or less (2 times per week for 30 min) intensive depending on screening scores. Students responded to early writing progress assessments during intervention. The resulting data were used to derive novel CBA-ID criteria and for longitudinal analyses that investigated students’ growth patterns. Additional analyses examined the importance of data from CBA-ID, intervention intensity, and other demographic factors for predicting growth patterns of students. Results showed that the current CBA-ID criteria (i.e., 11-17 correct word sequences on an early writing measure) overlapped some, but not completely, with previous derivations of CBA-ID criteria (i.e., 8-14 correct word sequences). Results also suggested that students followed more than one type of growth pattern, and a solution with three separate patterns was identified based on empirical data and interpretability. The results from additional analyses suggested that CBA-ID data, in addition to gender, were significant predictors of growth pattern; but intervention intensity did not predict growth patterns. The current results were contextualized within previous research, and implications for practice and theoretical models of writing development were discussed. Specifically, the results of the study were discussed in terms of their contribution to (1) the role of instructionally-relevant assessment data in targeting interventions within an early intervention framework, and (2) the understanding of how early writing skills develop independently and in concert. Lastly, limitations to the study and future directions for early intervention research were outlined.Item The influences of linguistic demand and cultural loading on Cognitive Test Scores(2012-06) Cormier, Damien ClementThe increased diversity of the student population in the United States has resulted in increased concerns related to the assessment of cognitive abilities for students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. To date, little empirical exists to support recommendations in test selection and interpretation, such as those presented in the Culture-Language Interpretative Matrix (C-LIM). In this study, the researcher aimed to provide empirical evidence for the classifications from the C-LIM for the Woodcock-Johnson Test of Cognitive Abilities, Third Edition (WJ-III). The researcher used the WJ-III normative update sample to determine the extent to which the two dimensions of the C-LIM (e.g. Cultural Loading and Linguistic Demand) influence performance on the 20 tests included in the battery. A secondary set of analyses examined the individual contributions of expressive and receptive language on test performance. Results provide partial support for the dimensions of the C-LIM (e.g. Cultural Loading and Linguistic Demand). However, it appears that a re-categorization of the individual tests within the matrix is necessary. The influence of both culture and language and the practical application of the results are discussed.