Concurrent and predictive validity of career development inventory

After an overview of the situation in vocational guidance for Quebec young people, we present the results of a study of the predictive validity of the Career Development Inventory adapted for French schools in Quebec. This study demonstrates that the instrument could be used to predict student perseverance and satisfaction in their professional choices. We then present the results of a second study which verified the concurrent validity of the Career Development Inventory by comparing the results obtained using this instrument with those obtained using the Career Education Questionnaire with the same students.     

Concurrent validity of new and revised conceptual language measures

This study examined the concurrent validity of several new and revised conceptual language measures. The Bracken Basic Concept Scale (BBCS), Boehm Test of Basic Concepts-Preschool Version (Boehm-PV) or Boehm-Revised (Boehm-R), and PPVT-R were administered to 99 preschool children (mean age = 5–2). The K-ABC Achievement Scale Composite (K-ABC ACH) was utilized as a criterion measure of achievement. The BBCS correlated significantly with the PPVT-R, and both correlated significantly and comparably with the Boehm-PV and Boehm-R. The BBCS, Boehm-R, and PPVT-R correlated significantly with K-ABC ACH. The BBCS proved significantly more difficult for children than did the Boehm-R, and the authors suggested variables that may have contributed to the discrepancy. The BBCS appears to be a valuable new measure of basic concept acquisition and would seem to hold a distinct advantage of allowing for repeated measurement with the same instrument across the preschool-early elementary school years.     

Concurrent and predictive validity of the LET-II for average children

Memory tests, such as the Learning Efficiency Test-II (LET-II), have frequently been used to describe the memory characteristics of special populations such as persons with learning disabilities, brain damage, or Alzheimer's disease. Yet, few research studies have examined the memory characteristics of normally functioning children and compared these characteristics to their performance on ability tests or real-life achievement criteria. This study investigates the predictive and concurrent validities of the LET-II for performance on the Kuhlmann-Anderson Tests (K-A), class grades, and actual grade level functioning in reading and mathematics for third and fourth grade children of average intelligence. The LET-II memory factor scores correlated significantly with the K-A scores, class grades and actual grade level functioning in reading. The relevance of these findings for norm-referenced psychological tests, and in particular memory tests, in real-life settings is examined. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Concurrent and predictive validity of the Phelps Kindergarten Readiness Scale‐II

The purpose of this research was to establish the concurrent and predictive validity of the Phelps Kindergarten Readiness Scale, Second Edition (PKRS‐II; L. Phelps, 2003). Seventy‐four kindergarten students of diverse ethnic backgrounds enrolled in a northeastern suburban school participated in the study. The concurrent administration of the PKRS‐II and the Woodcock‐Johnson III Brief Intellectual Ability Scale (R.W. Woodcock, K.S. McGrew, & N. Mather, 2001a) occurred in the fall of the kindergarten year. To assess predictive validity, the Woodcock Johnson III Tests of Achievement (R.W. Woodcock, K.S. McGrew, & N. Mather, 2001b) was administered in the spring of that year. All concurrent and predictive correlations were significant. Based on the results of this study, the PKRS‐II may be used with confidence to screen for children who may be at risk for academic difficulties. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 42: 355–359, 2005.     

Concurrent validity of the Battelle Developmental Inventory for speech and language disordered children

Concurrent validity of the Battelle Developmental Inventory (BDI) was investigated with speech and language disordered children between the ages of 35 and 60 months. Correlations between the BDI expressive communication subdomain and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R), Preschool Language Scale-Revised (PLS-R), and Arizona Articulation Proficiency Scale-Revised (AAPS-R) were significant. The BDI total score was also significantly correlated with the PPVT-R and the PLS-R. There were no significant differences between the three BDI developmental quotients and PPVT-R standard scores. The receptive communication subdomain of the BDI did not correlate significantly with any of the language measures.     

Concurrent and predictive validity of the WISC-R,McCarthy Scales,Woodcock-Johnson,and academic achievement

Twenty-six normal first-grade children (M = 7.0 years) were administered the WISC-R, the McCarthy Scales, and the Woodcock-Johnson Scales of Cognitive Ability. Two years later, their levels of academic achievement were determined by way of the WRAT and global teacher ratings of classroom performance. Pearson intercorrelations among the summary indices of the three intellectual measures were significant and uniformly high (rang. 77-.95). Correlations between first-grade ability scores and third-grade achievement measures also were significant (range .64-.90), suggesting strong predictive validity for each of the cognitive instruments. Though not significantly so, the correlations between the Woodcock-Johnson and achievement tended to be the highest. The results indicate that all three intellectual measures are appropriate for predicting later academic achievement in young school-aged children.     

Predicting child maltreatment: A meta-analysis of the predictive validity of risk assessment instruments

Risk assessment is crucial in preventing child maltreatment since it can identify high-risk cases in need of child protection intervention. Despite widespread use of risk assessment instruments in child welfare, it is unknown how well these instruments predict maltreatment and what instrument characteristics are associated with higher levels of predictive validity. Therefore, a multilevel meta-analysis was conducted to examine the predictive accuracy of (characteristics of) risk assessment instruments. A literature search yielded 30 independent studies (N = 87,329) examining the predictive validity of 27 different risk assessment instruments. From these studies, 67 effect sizes could be extracted. Overall, a medium significant effect was found (AUC = 0.681), indicating a moderate predictive accuracy. Moderator analyses revealed that onset of maltreatment can be better predicted than recurrence of maltreatment, which is a promising finding for early detection and prevention of child maltreatment. In addition, actuarial instruments were found to outperform clinical instruments. To bring risk and needs assessment in child welfare to a higher level, actuarial instruments should be further developed and strengthened by distinguishing risk assessment from needs assessment and by integrating risk assessment with case management.     

State control and parent participation: Analysis of recent reports

This article focuses on three recently released reports — Schools Renewal (1989), Report of the Committee of NSW Schools (1989) and Excellence and Equity (1989) — which are examined from the perspective of the discourse of school and parent/community relations. After outlining the basic elements of this discourse, their status in NSW education is discussed and the extent to which they function as a framework for the changes the reports propose or as a legitimating mechanism is analysed. This is followed by an appraisal of the context which gave rise to the reports and of the implications for the future role of parents’ and citizens’ groups.     

Predictive validity of teacher ratings of creativity over 2 years

Fifty white, suburban middle-class children were tested in the fourth grade with six divergent thinking tests developed from Guilford's SOI model and in the sixth grade with the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, Verbal Form A. In the fourth grade, these students' classroom teachers completed for each of them the Scale for Rating the Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students. With IQ and reading and math achievement controlled via partial correlations, Guilford-like and Torrance measures were significantly correlated over 2 years but only teachers' rating of students as “sensitive to beauty and the aesthetic characteristics of things” was significantly related over 2 years to creativity measures. This characteristic appeared to be most crucial in the prediction of creativity for boys.     

Pathways to understanding mind: construct validity and predictive validity of maternal mind-mindedness

The construct validity of maternal mind-mindedness (MM) was investigated in the context of its relations with children's later understanding of mind. MM measures were obtained from infant-mother (N = 52) interactions at 6 months, and from maternal interviews at 48 months. Children's understanding of mind was assessed using theory of mind (ToM) tasks at 45 and 48 months, and a stream of consciousness (SoC) task at 55 months. One of the early MM measures--mothers' appropriate mind-related comments--was a positive independent predictor of: (a) MM at 48 months, and (b) ToM and SoC performance at 45 to 55 months. Path analyses suggested direct links between mothers' use of appropriate mind-related comments and children's later understanding of mind.     

Measurement properties of the MacArthur communicative development inventories at ages one and two years

In a prospective study of child development in relation to early-life otitis media, we administered the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (CDI) to a large (N = 2,156), sociodemographically diverse sample of 1- and 2-year-old children. As a prerequisite for interpreting the CDI scores, we studied selected measurement properties of the inventories. Scores on the CDI/Words and Gestures (CDI-WG), designed for children 8 to 16 months old, and on the CDI/Words and Sentences (CDI-WS), designed for children 16 to 30 months old, increased significantly with months of age. On several scales of both CDI-WG and CDI-WS, standard deviations approximated or exceeded mean values, reflecting wide variability in results. Statistically significant differences in mean scores were found according to race, maternal education, and health insurance status as an indirect measure of income, but the directionality of differences was not consistent across inventories or across scales of the CDI-WS. Correlations between CDI-WG and CDI-WS ranged from .18 to .39. Our findings suggest that the CDI reflects the progress of language development within the age range 10 to 27 months. However, researchers and clinicians should exercise caution in using results of the CDI to identify individual children at risk for language deficits, to compare groups of children with different sociodemographic profiles, or to evaluate the effects of interventions.     

Individual differences in language performance after cochlear implantation at one to three years of age: child, family, and linguistic factors

Language skills were investigated in a multicultural sample of 13 prelingually deaf children (11 profoundly deaf from birth) who received cochlear implants between 14 and 38 months of age; average duration of implant use was 49 months. Individual postimplant language skills ranged from extremely delayed to age appropriate. On average, skills varied across domains: on vocabulary, several children functioned in the average range compared with hearing peers, but all were below that range on a test emphasizing syntax (CELF-P). Children with preimplant hearing experience had the highest scores on all language measures. Excluding these children, age of implantation (range 14 to 27 months) associated inversely and significantly with CELF-P scores, even when nonverbal IQ was controlled. Qualitative analyses indicated higher child language achievement associated with parents' reports of lengthy, in-depth processes to decide about cochlear implantation. Such reports may indicate high levels of ongoing parent involvement with child and programming.     

A brief screening battery for predicting school achievement at ages seven and nine years

This article describes the development, utilization, and evaluation of an early screening battery for predicting school success or failure. The battery was administered to the pediatric population of the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, Panorama City Medical Center, at the time of the routine five-year health examination. For 411 children whose school performance was assessed by the teacher at age seven years, the Caldwell Test was the best predictor, but it had significant value for girls only (p<0.0001). In 1,251 children evaluated at age nine years, the Beery-Butkenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI) and the Caldwell Test were the best predictors (p⩽0.003). In 600 children for whom we had teacher ratings at ages seven and nine years, the VMI repeated at age seven years significantly predicted academic achievement and reading at age nine years for girls and boys (p = 0.007). Although combining the academic performance with VMI results at age seven years yielded 89% accuracy of prediction at age nine years, the false-positive rate represents a serious practical problem of mislabeling children as school failures.     

A case-study of the predictive validity and reliability of Key Stage 2 test results,and teacher assessments,as baseline data for target-setting and value-added at Key Stage 3

This case-study investigates the predictive validity and reliability of Key Stage 2 test results, and teacher assessments, for target-setting and value-added assumptions at Key Stage 3. (In England Key Stage 2 tests are taken in the core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science at the age of 11. Key Stage 3 tests are taken in the same subjects at the age of 14. Teacher assessments are also completed for these subjects at both key stages.) The study employed the type of linear regression analysis recommended in several government reports, to correlate Key Stage 2 test results, and teacher assessments, in core subjects, with Key Stage 3 test results, and teacher assessments, in both core and non-core subjects. Following government recommendations that the use of any other form of testing - such as the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT) - was now no longer necessary to provide baseline data for value-added calculations, or to set targets, correlations were also investigated between results on the CAT, and test results and teacher assessments at Key Stage 3, for both core and non-core subjects, to see whether this recommendation was well founded. The results of the case-study suggest that Key Stage 2 data, both in the form of test results and teacher assessments, have little or no predictive validity, or reliability, for test results or teacher assessments at Key Stage 3. Indeed, the predictive validity for non-core subjects at Key Stage 3 was so low as to be negligible. However, the CAT average score correlated more highly with both teacher assessments and test results at Key Stage 3 in core subjects, although this relationship was not reflected in non-core subjects. These findings suggest that the predictive validity and reliability of Key Stage 2 data is seriously open to question as baseline data for either value-added, or target-setting procedures, at Key Stage 3. It should be pointed out, however, that these findings are provisional, since they are based on data from two intake years, but preliminary analysis of data from a further three intake years appears to indicate that the concerns identified are well founded.     

Concurrent validity of the WISC-R using deaf norms and the Hiskey-Nebraska

Using a sample of 49 prelingually deaf youths, test results of the Hiskey-Nebraska Test of Learning Aptitude (H-NTLA) and the WISC-R Performance Scales for Deaf Children were compared. The H-NTLA was administered using the standard demonstration and/or pantomine instructions, while a total communication directional set was used with the WISC-R. A Pearson product-moment correlation of .913 between the two instruments demonstrated overwhelming commonality and supported the hypothesis that the WISC-R Performance IQ may provide a conveneint alternative to the Hiskey-Nebraska when the score is computed using the Anderson and Sisco deaf norms and a total communication approach for administration.     

Concurrent validity of the PPVT-R for “at risk” preschool children

The PPVT-R and McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities were compared in a counterbalanced design for 35 preschool children identified previously as being “at risk.” Nonsignificant differences were found between Forms L and M of the PPVT-R and the McCarthy GCI. Correlations between the PPVT-R and the McCarthy GCI and Scale scores all were significant and in the moderate range of .41 to .69. Alternate form reliability of the PPVT-R was .87.     

The construct validity and predictive validity of a self-efficacy measure for student teachers in competence-based education

This study intends to investigate the validity of a self-efficacy measure which is developed for predictive and diagnostic purposes concerning student teachers in competence-based education. CFA results delivered converging evidence for the multidimensionality of the student teacher self-efficacy construct and the bi-factor model as underlying structure, reflecting a teacher competence framework. Factor loadings of the bifactor model evidenced the theoretical assumption that incipient student teachers enter the programme with a global undifferentiated sense of teacher self-efficacy, having teaching experiences a further differentiation takes place to a partly differentiated sense of teacher self-efficacy. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the measure succeeds in predicting students’ first-year outcomes and delivered evidence for the diagnostic value of the scale.     

Examining the predictive validity of behavior screeners across measures and respondents

Through this study we compared different informants and different behavior screening tools that are available to screen for behavioral and emotional risk. We examined screening results from 100 students from a high school with a high achiever's magnet program in the Southeastern United States (school demographics: 71% female and 79% black, non-Hispanic). This school conducted behavior screening using both teacher-report via the Student Risk Screening Scale, Internalizing/Externalizing (SRSS-IE) and student report via the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Nonparametric correlation tests were conducted between the SRSS-IE and SDQ externalizing and internalizing scores. Generalized linear regression models were created based on the data (demographics, internalizing, and externalizing scores on both screening tools) to model the two count outcomes (office discipline referrals [ODRs] and absences). Diagnostic accuracy metrics were generated from the scores on both the SRSS-IE and SDQ with the outcome measures (ODRs and absences). Externalizing scores on both screening tools had statistically significant low correlations. The ODR model contained two predictors: externalizing score on the SRSS-IE and internalizing score on the SDQ, while the absence model contained grade and the externalizing score on the SDQ. The highest accuracy and agreement values were seen between students with elevated risks on both screening measures and ODRs. The results confirmed that teacher and student reporting, as well as different screening tools, will result in some different students being identified. The choice of informant and screening tools should be dependent on the needs and resources of the school.     

Risk of mother-reported child abuse in the first 3 years of life

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research was to investigate, within an at-risk population, parent and child characteristics associated with a mother's self-reports of severe physical assault and assault on the self-esteem of the child in the first 3 years of life. DESIGN: The study population consisted of a community-based sample of mothers of newborns identified as at-risk for child maltreatment (n=595). Families were assessed annually from the child's birth through age 3 using instruments with established psychometric properties. Independent variables investigated included: family socio-demographics, parity, mother's social support, maternal depression, maternal problem drug or alcohol use, partner violence, child's age, child's sex, low birth weight/small for gestational age (SGA), and mother's perception of child's demand level. Associations with maltreatment were examined using multivariable methods for longitudinal data. RESULTS: Child severe physical assault was significantly associated with parent characteristics (maternal depression and partner violence); and child characteristics (SGA). Assault to the child's self-esteem was significantly associated with maternal depression, maternal illicit drug use, partner violence and mother's perception of child's demand level. Controlling for family sociodemographic characteristics did not change the associations. Likewise, while mother's perception of child demand level had an independent association with self-esteem assault, the associations described above persisted while demand level was held constant. In this high-risk sample, abuse was not associated with mother's age, education, race, parity, or household income level. CONCLUSIONS: While characteristics such as SGA can serve as markers for increased abuse risk, they are not amenable to intervention after the child is born. However, certain other risk factors, such as maternal depression and domestic violence are malleable and should be targeted for intervention with the goal of preventing child maltreatment.