IDENTIFICATION OF READING PROBLEMS IN FIRST GRADE WITHIN A RESPONSE-TO-INTERVENTION FRAMEWORK

Models of Response to Intervention (RTI) include parameters of assessment and instruction. This study focuses on assessment with the purpose of developing a screening battery that validly and efficiently identifies first-grade children at risk for reading problems. In an RTI model, these children would be candidates for early intervention. We examined accuracy, fluency, growth, and teacher rating measures as predictors of child status (at risk, not at risk) at the end of the school year based on an unselected sample of 243 children. The prediction model that best fit our selection criteria included 2-word fluency measures and a teacher rating of reading problems. Word-fluency growth was an equally plausible choice statistically, but, because the measure would require an additional data point, it was not the most efficient choice. The receiver-operator characteristic curve analysis yielded an area-under-the-curve index of .96, which indicates the selected 3-variable model is highly accurate.     

Translating Training in the NYU Caregiver Intervention in Australia: Maintaining Fidelity and Meeting Graduate Standards in an Online Continuing Professional Education Setting

The aim of this study was to develop an Internet-based self-directed training program for Australian healthcare workers to facilitate learning and competence in delivery of a proven intervention for caregivers of people with dementia: The New York University Caregiver Intervention (NYUCI). The NYUCI is a nonpharmacological, multicomponent intervention for spousal caregivers. It is aimed at maintaining well-being by increasing social support and decreasing family discord, thereby delaying or avoiding nursing home placement of the person with dementia. Training in the NYUCI in the United States has, until now, been conducted in person to trainee practitioners. The Internet-based intervention was developed simultaneously for trainees in the U.S. and Australia. In Australia, due to population geography, community healthcare workers, who provide support to older adult caregivers of people with dementia, live and work in many regional and rural areas. Therefore, it was especially important to have online training available to make it possible to realize the health and economic benefits of using an existing evidence-based intervention. This study aimed to transfer knowledge of training in, and delivery of, the NYUCI for an Australian context and consumers. This article details the considerations given to contextual differences and to learners’ skillset differences in translating the NYUCI for Australia.     

A confirmatory study of rating scale category effectiveness for the Coaching Efficacy Scale

This study extended validity evidence for measures of coaching efficacy derived from the Coaching Efficacy Scale (CES) by testing the rating scale categorizations suggested in previous research. Previous research provided evidence for the effectiveness of a four-category (4-CAT) structure for high school and collegiate sports coaches; it also suggested that a five-category (5-CAT) structure may be effective for youth sports coaches, because they may be more likely to endorse categories on the lower end of the scale. Coaches of youth sports (N = 492) responded to the CES items with a 5-CAT structure. Across rating scale category effectiveness guidelines, 32 of 34 evidences (94%) provided support for this structure. Data were condensed to a 4-CAT structure by collapsing responses in Category 1 (CAT-1) and Category 2 (CAT-2). Across rating scale category effectiveness guidelines, 25 of 26 evidences (96%) provided support for this structure. Findings provided confirmatory, cross-validation evidence for both the 5-CAT and 4-CAT structures. For empirical, theoretical, and practical reasons, the authors concluded that the 4-CAT structure was preferable to the 5-CAT when CES items are used to measure coaching efficacy. This conclusion is based on the findings of this confirmatory study and the more exploratory findings of Myers, Wolfe, and Feltz (2005).