Psychodrama and sociodrama in primary and secondary education

Students need practice in decision making and problem solving, and sociodrama can provide this practice in a safe, nonthreatening context. It helps them to become aware of the typical ways they solve problems, and it increases both social and personal awareness. It may promote acceptance, cooperation, and cohesiveness in the classroom. Students readily adapt to this kind of activity and find it both enjoyable and stimulating. It is recommended as a useful method in the classroom and guidance and counseling setting for helping students understand their own behavior and the behavior of others.     

The Portland Problem Behavior Checklist

The Portland Problem Behavior Checklist (PPBC) is described for aiding school personnel in identifying problem behaviors of students. Test reliability and validity data are reported. The PPBC appears to offer a quick format useful for clinical referrals, assessment, and initial evaluation.     

Congruence and typology of diagnoses in school psychology: An empirical study

Focus is directed upon the logic and import of the assumption that effective preventative and remedial mental health service demands reasonable agreement among service providers as to the nature and course of psychological problems. The study proceeds to test the belief that school psychologists improve in diagnostic agreement as a function of increased training and experience. Seventy-two randomly selected members of groups of novice, intern, and expert school psychologists were presented with three child case studies containing a full breadth of information and were subsequently asked to render diagnoses. It was found that diagnostic agreement was absent at all levels of experience, and further, a trend was noted wherein school psychologists tended to demonstrate increasing disagreement with one another as they acquired more training and experience. The findings were examined in the context of comparative research from allied mental health and educational specialties, with a special concern for discovering prevailing patterns of decision-making errors that result in reduced diagnostic agreement and validity.     

The relationship between kindergartners' play and achievement in prereading,language, and writing

The study examined the relationship between play and selected demographic variables (sex and SES) and kindergartners' achievement in prereading, language, and writing. Play was observed and ranked according to Smilansky's cognitive play categories. Prereading and language achievement were measured by the Metropolitan Reading Readiness Test; writing achievement was measured by students' word writing fluency. Sixty-five kindergartners (37 male, 28 female) were tested and observed in the classrooms over a four-week period. Multiple regression and ANOVA procedures were employed to determine the extent to which play, SES, and sex predicted student achievement. Play was a significant predictor of success on all three measures of achievement (p < .01). SES and sex appeared to have little influence on the prediction of achievement. There were significant main effects due to play for all achievement variables (p < .001). Post hoc analyses indicated that dramatic play had the most significant impact on play (p < .05). Pedagogical implications are made.     

The evidence for the impact of policy on physical activity outcomes within the school setting: A systematic review

BackgroundDespite the well-established health benefits of physical activity (PA) for young people (aged 4–19 years), most do not meet PA guidelines. Policies that support PA in schools may be promising, but their impact on PA behavior is poorly understood. The aim of this systematic review was to ascertain the level and type of evidence reported in the international scientific literature for policies within the school setting that contribute directly or indirectly to increasing PA.MethodsThis systematic review is compliant with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis guidelines. Six databases were searched using key concepts of policy, school, evaluation, and PA. Following title and abstract screening of 2323 studies, 25 progressed to data synthesis. Methodological quality was assessed using standardized tools, and the strength of the evidence of policy impact was described based on pre-determined codes: positive, negative, inconclusive, or untested statistically.ResultsEvidence emerged for 9 policy areas that had a direct or indirect effect on PA within the school setting. These were whole school PA policy, physical education, sport/extracurricular PA, classroom-based PA, active breaks/recess, physical environment, shared use agreements, active school transport, and surveillance. The bulk of the evidence was significantly positive (54%), 27% was inconclusive, 9% was significantly negative, and 11% was untested (due to rounding, some numbers add to 99% or 101%). Frequency of evidence was highest in the primary setting (41%), 34% in the secondary setting, and 24% in primary/secondary combined school settings. By policy area, frequency of evidence was highest for sport/extracurricular PA (35%), 17% for physical education, and 12% for whole school PA policy, with evidence for shared use agreements between schools and local communities rarely reported (2%). Comparing relative strength of evidence, the evidence for shared use agreements, though sparse, was 100% positive, while 60% of the evidence for whole school PA policy, 59% of the evidence for sport/extracurricular PA, 57% of the evidence for physical education, 50% of the evidence for PA in classroom, and 50% of the evidence for active breaks/recess were positive.ConclusionThe current evidence base supports the effectiveness of PA policy actions within the school setting but cautions against a “one-size-fits-all” approach and emphasizes the need to examine policy implementation to maximize translation into practice. Greater clarity regarding terminology, measurement, and methods for evaluation of policy interventions is needed.     

Validation of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children with a sample of preschool children

The validity of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) (Kaufman & Kaufman, 1983) was investigated with a sample of preschool-age children. The sample consisted of 50 subjects aged 21/2 through 4 who were distributed roughly equally by age, sex, and race according to the 1980 census. The validity of the K-ABC was examined using the Slosson Intelligence Test (SIT) (Slosson, 1982) and the Classroom Behavior Inventory-Preschool Form (CBI) (Schaefer & Edgerton, 1978) as criterion measures. The SIT and CBI-Preschool Form Verbal Intelligence Scale were found to correlate significantly (p<.01) with the global scales of the K-ABC. The K-ABC did not differentiate between age or sex groups, but blacks scored lower than whites. The findings are supportive of previous validity studies (Kaufman & Kaufman, 1983) and two-factor theories of intelligence (e.g., Das, Kirby, & Jarman, 1975).     

Rate of conceptual development among deaf preschool and primary children as compared to a matched group of nonhearing impaired children

Seventeen deaf children and a matched group of 17 nonhearing impaired children were assessed to compare rate of basic concept development. The results indicate that deaf children scored approximately two standard deviations below their matched nonhearing impaired peers. Additionally, the deaf children exhibited a relatively flat subtest proffle, suggesting that basic concepts that have not been specifically taught remain uniformly delayed for deaf children.     

Concurrent validity of the test of nonverbal intelligence with learning disabled children

Results of the TONI, WISC-R, and WRAT were compared for a sample of 66 learning disabled children: 51 males (32 white, 19 black) and 15 females (9 white, 6 black) whose mean age was 9–5 (SD = 1–10). The mean score of the TONI was significantly different from the Performance IQ. Nonsignificant differences were found between the TONI and Full Scale IQ and between the TONI and Verbal IQ. Correlation coefficients between the TONI and WISC-R ranged from a low of .35 for the Verbal IQ to .44 for both the Full Scale and Performance IQs. The correlation coefficients between the TONI and standard scores of the WRAT were .38, .27, and .23, for Reading, Spelling, and Arithmetic, respectively. Implications of these findings are discussed.