Can ability-achievement regression to the mean account for MDT discretionary decisions?

The test scores of 153 referred students who received inconsistent placements according to California's discrepancy criterion, which does not take regression into account (standard score distribution procedure), were reanalyzed using a procedure that accounts for regression. Students involved in these MDT discretionary decisions were placed into one of three groups: ineligible (originally met discrepancy criterion, but not placed), resource class (originally did not meet discrepancy criterion, but placed in a less restrictive pull-out program), and special day class (originally did not meet discrepancy criterion, but placed in a more restrictive, essentially full-time special education class). All of these placements were inconsistent with the nonregressed ability-achievement discrepancy criterion the MDTs used at the time of the IEP meeting. To evaluate how many of these students could be considered to be underachieving when regression is considered, regressed discrepancy scores were computed using the students' scores on the WISC-R and one or more of the following achievement tests: WRAT, PIAT, and W-J. Regression “accounted” for a significant proportion of the inconsistent placements in all three groups: ineligible (25.0%), resource class (31.5%), and special day class (46.9%). Implications for professional practice and public policy are discussed.     

Multimethod behavioral treatment of long-term selective mutism

This single-subject, experimental research design examined the efficacy of treating severe, long-term selective mutism in a 9-year-old male using shaping, multiple re-inforcers, natural consequences, stimulus fading, and mild aversives. Different treatment regimens were implemented in the home and school environments. A multiple baseline design across settings with changing criterion was used to evaluate the home intervention, and an A-B-A design was used for the school intervention. The home intervention resulted in an increase in the number of verbalizations in each setting and prompted generalization to additional settings. The school intervention increased the number of people spoken to, but the results were not maintained at follow-up nor did they generalize outside of the training situation. Possible explanations for the discrepancy in maintenance and generalization data between the two programs are presented.     

A follow-up study of high school students with a history of grade retention

The present study examines high school students with a prior history of grade retention (N = 38) compared to a matched control group of nonretained students. The retained students were lower on a number of scholastic variables (i.e., achievement, intelligence, grades), more often absent from school, and lower on three subscales of a self-esteem measure (the Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents). The authors explored the correlates of grade retained with the measured variables and found that the later a student was retained was associated with lower grades, less-positive school attitudes, less time on homework, lower educational expectations, more discipline problems, lower self-control, and a more external locus of control.     

IQ and achievement: 1930s to 1980s

One hundred thirty-eight fifth-grade students from three upstate New York school districts were administered a 1930s version of the Pintner General Ability Tests: Verbal Series. Scores from this test were compared and correlated with scores from current IQ and achievement tests. The Pintner means were similar to those of the current IQ tests; the correlations of the Pintner with the other tests were of the same order as those typically reported among contemporary measures; and item difficulty, as indicated by rank order, appeared similar for the current sample and the 1930s norm groups. The findings are discussed with reference to research that has shown sharp increases in IQs of Americans since the 1930s and questions concerning changes in mental ability measures.     

The retrograde motion of planets and children: Interpreting percentile rank

A common method used to interpret raw scores is to convert them into percentile rank. The broad application of percentile rank in almost all norm-referenced tests, and the exclusive use in some tests, requires the conversion of raw scores. Because percentile rank is not a linear transformation of raw scores, percentile-rank transformation in the lower and upper part of the raw-score distribution relates percentile rank and raw scores differently than in the center of the raw-score distribution. This paper describes the popularity of using percentile rank and offers an interpretation of the use of percentile rank with normal and skewed score distributions.     

Crisis intervention teams in the schools

When a crisis occurs in the school setting, school officials must be prepared to handle the situation effectively and efficiently. One of the ways school officials can handle a crisis situation is through the use of crisis intervention teams. The steps in establishing a crisis intervention team in a school setting include: determining goals, performing a needs assessment, finding model programs, developing a membership pool, developing a training program, preparing and maintaining a list of resources and plans for support services, establishing a communication network, designating a base of operations, planning team meetings, keeping records, and implementing the phases of debriefing. A crisis management scenario is presented and discussed in terms of the steps.     

Robotic automation of droplet microfluidics

Droplet microfluidics enables powerful analytic capabilities but often requires workflows involving macro- and microfluidic processing steps that are cumbersome to perform manually. Here, we demonstrate the automation of droplet microfluidics with commercial fluid-handling robotics. The workflows incorporate common microfluidic devices including droplet generators, mergers, and sorters and utilize the robot''s native capabilities for thermal control, incubation, and plate scanning. The ability to automate microfluidic devices using commercial fluid handling will speed up the integration of these methods into biological workflows.