Validating curriculum-based measurement: Essential concerns from a behavioral perspective.

Comments on an article by T. F. Derr-Minneci and E. S. Shapiro (see record 1993-07458-001) on behavioral validation of a curriculum-based measurement in reading. It is argued that Derr-Minneci and Shapiro misconstrue the concept of accuracy, which nevertheless is a questionable technical adequacy metric for curriculum-based measurement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Program evaluation using hierarchical linear modeling with curriculum-based measurement reading probes.

Used hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to evaluate 99 ethnically diverse 2nd-Graders' growth in oral reading fluency using curriculum-based measurement (CBM) over the course of the school year. Five statistical advantages of the use of HLM are described and four are highlighted in this example: (a) The potential for improved accuracy in slope estimation of the empirical Bayes method used in HLM; (b) HLM provided the flexibility to test the effects of independent variables on the initial status of the slope and the change in slope over time; (c) HLM provided an analysis of the nested effects of the classroom on individual performance; and (d) HLM provided a statistical test for both group effects and individual variation in reading growth. Results showed 1st-Grade reading performance significantly predicted initial 2nd-Grade reading performance. Individual growth curves of 28 students who attended summer school showed that all of them made statistically significant growth in reading ability. 71% of the summer school students scored between the 1st and 2nd quartile of the spring, norming distribution at the end of summer school. This example shows that the use of HLM with normative CBM reading probes provided additional information not available with other statistical techniques. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Accuracy and curriculum-based measurement.

Comments on an article by T. F. Derr-Minneci and E. S. Shapiro (see record 1993-07458-001) on curriculum-based measurement in reading. It is argued that in Derr-Minneci and Shapiro's examination of variation in oral reading rate across 3 settings, assessment procedures of unknown accuracy were used, and these procedures themselves varied among the settings, making it difficult to be certain what to say about setting differences in oral reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Generalizability of oral reading fluency measures: Application of G theory to curriculum-based measurement.

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the use of Generalizability (G) theory as an alternative method of validating direct behavioral measures. Reliability and validity from a classic test score theory are explored and rephrased in terms of G theory. Two studies that used oral reading fluency measures within a curriculum-based measurement (CBM) approach are examined with G theory. Results indicate that CBM oral reading fluency measures are highly dependable and can be reliably used to make both between individual (nomothetic) and within individual (ideographic) decisions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An examination of racial/ethnic and gender bias on curriculum-based measurement of reading.

Examined racial/ethnic and gender bias on curriculum-based measurement (CBM) of reading with African American and Caucasian male and female students across grades 2–5. Simultaneous multiple regression analyses were conducted by grade to examine group differences on CBM as an estimate of reading comprehension. Regression equations were estimated with CBM, gender, race/ethnicity, and the interactions of gender and race/ethnicity with CBM. Results of this study indicated that CBM fails as an unbiased indicator of current reading comprehension. Although no evidence of bias was found at grades 2–3, intercept bias was found for racial/ethnic groups at grades 4–5, and intercept and slope bias were found for gender at grade 5. Implications of these results suggest that the meaning of CBM scores differs across race/ethnicity or gender, or both, at certain grade levels. The results also suggest that at grade 5, CBM performance overestimates the reading comprehension of girls and underestimates that of boys. Mean differences between genders were much greater at lower levels of CBM performance than at higher levels. These findings raise issues concerning the use of CBM as a screening measure and in determining eligibility for and termination of special education and related services. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vocational rehabilitation from a behavioral economics perspective.

Behavioral economics represents a synthesis of basic principles of economics and behavioral psychology that has become a major perspective for understanding addictions and health service utilization. The present article discusses the basic assumptions and concepts of behavioral economics as they apply to vocational rehabilitation (VR) services. The concepts of value and unit price, demand, elasticity, substitutes and complements, and discounting are examined within the context of VR and common choices of VR participants. Common models of VR, such as supported employment and transitional employment, are discussed from a behavioral economics perspective. Implications for VR programs and staff are identified. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of gender, income, and special education status bias on curriculum-based measurement slope in reading.

This study investigated slope bias on student background variables for both Curriculum Based Measurement of Oral Reading (CBM-R) and Curriculum Based Measurement Maze Reading (Maze). Benchmark scores from 1,738 students in Grades 3 through 8 were used to examine potential slope bias in CBM-R and Maze. Latent growth modeling was used to both estimate growth rates and examine the extent to which demographic variables affected the estimated growth rates. Results indicate a significant CBM-R slope bias on special education status at Grade 3 and on gender at Grade 7. For Maze, slope bias on gender was associated with Maze slope estimates at Grades 5 and 7. Slope bias on various demographic variables was not consistent across CBM measures and grades. Results and implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The smoking problem: A behavioral perspective.

A review of behavioral work on cigarette smoking indicates that behavioral analysis of the determinants of smoking has lagged far behind pharmacological research and, partly as a result of cessation/maintenance strategies, still lacks adequate empirical and theoretical bases. Multicomponent programs that include aversion seem most effective. However, nicotine chewing gum has a theoretical base, shows promising results in clinical trials, and may be a useful adjunct to behavioral strategies. Much progress has been made in developing biochemical measures of smoking, of which saliva thiocyanate is the most useful. Preventive interventions with adolescents provide an opportunity for behavioral contributions to the etiology of smoking. (109 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work-related stress and blood pressure: Current theoretical models and considerations from a behavioral medicine perspective.

There is extensive evidence that the prevalence of human hypertension is related to psychosocial factors, possibly including chronic exposure to stress. A tripartite model, consistent with the literature on stress and health, may help to define this relationship better. Its 3 components are environmental stressors, individual factors affecting the perception of stress, and the individual's physiological susceptibility. To date, researchers have looked at individual parts of this model, but rarely all 3. Some models of work stress (e.g., the job strain, effort-reward, and person-environment fit models) focus on work-related stressors alone or in conjunction with individual characteristics. Other models (e.g., the defense-defeat, John Henryism, and reactivity models) focus on individual differences in response, with little attention paid to the nature of the stressors. The authors suggest that it is timely to integrate these approaches and to look for physiological mechanisms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Research on reading processes: A historical perspective.

The systematic study of reading dates from the beginnings of experimental psychology in the 1880's. From that time until the publication of E. B. Huey's 1908 test on reading, reading processes were a central focus of experimental psychology. After this period the influence of behaviorism turned experimental psychologists away from the investigation of mental processes, while educational psychologists became preoccupied with testing and measurement. A revival of experimental work began in the 1950's, prompted by both improved funding for education and psychology's renewed interest in cognitive processes. With the current interest in information processing, reading again occupies a central role in psychology. However, it is argued that the research community needs a more convincing justification for continued government support of basic research than one based on potential links to classroom practice. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Termination from a psychoanalytic perspective.

The following principles of termination have been derived from the confluence of psychoanalytic and other perspectives: (a) The timing of the termination is determined by the patient; (b) the frequency of meetings should be reduced and a final appointment scheduled some time after the second-to-last meeting; (c) the patient's stressors, previous dominant ways, and new ways of responding should be reviewed; (d) what the patient believes was accomplished should be discussed, (e) the therapist should inquire what was helpful and hurtful; (j) the therapist should inquire, if appropriate, whether there is something negative about the therapy leading the patient to terminate; (g) the therapist should equalize the relationship; and (h) the patient should be invited to correspond in the future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intervention from a systems-ecological perspective.

Contends that a systems-ecological perspective, which integrates concepts and techniques from family systems theory and ecological psychology, can be used to underscore the nature of the disruptive child's relationships within and across settings and enrich the selection of interventions. An overview of what the framework might mean in relation to school-based intervention stresses that it is a perspective rather than a procedure; family therapy may not be the treatment of choice; the child's behavior should be viewed contextually and in terms of interactions; the child exists in overlapping systems, and changes in one system can influence other systems; and a system seeking stability may resist change. The systems-ecological approach lends itself to a consultant model. The case study of a 15-yr-old male hospitalized and finally admitted to a group home in the community because of learning disability, mild mental retardation, and emotional disturbance illustrates the framework. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interactionism in personality from a historical perspective.

Starting from a distinction between 3 different conceptions of human behavior (personologism, situationism, and interactionism) and between 2 different conceptions of the environment (physical vs psychological environment), the present article focuses on the interactionist position, which has been preferred in some recent conceptions of personality. By reviewing different classical theories of psychology, it is argued that the modern interactionist conceptualization is not new in personality psychology. It can be traced back to the works of J. R. Kantor and K. Lewin and is also advocated in many of the succeeding classical works. By reviewing the previous interactionists' conceptions of the environment, it is argued that their emphasis on the psychological environment in explaining person-situation interactions presents the same main thought as that found in the recent cognitively colored interactionism. By reviewing empirical strategies and results within the interactionist framework, it is argued that the inaptness of previous methods has impeded the development of interactionism and explains why it has not had an impact until now. (4 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of perspective in the accessibility of goals during reading.

An implicit assumption of several causal reasoning models is that readers adopt the goals of a narrative's protagonist during text comprehension. In apparent violation of this assumption, readers participating in Experiment 1 of the present study drew inferences relevant to a protagonist's goal even when that goal was already satisfied from the perspective of the protagonist. In Experiments 2 and 3, participants were explicitly asked to view the text situation from the point of view of the protagonist. In this case, the goals of the reader and the protagonist should be the same. In these experiments, participants focused on the goals of the protagonist only when those goals had not been satisfied from the perspective of the protagonist. These results are discussed in terms of reader- and character-based perspectives and in terms of text characteristics that cue perspective taking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A measurement model of women's behavioral risk taking.

The current study was designed to gain a better understanding of the nature of the relationship between substance use and sexual risk taking within a community sample of women (N = 1,004). Using confirmatory factor analysis, the authors examined the factor structure of sexual risk behaviors and substance use to determine whether they are best conceptualized as domains underlying a single, higher order, risk-taking propensity. A 2 higher order factor model (sexual risk behavior and substance use) provided the best fit to the data, suggesting that these 2 general risk domains are correlated but independent factors. Sensation seeking had large general direct effects on the 2 risk domains and large indirect effects on the 4 first-order factors and the individual indicators. Negative affect had smaller, yet still significant, effects. Impulsivity and anxiety were unrelated to sexual health risk domains. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Leadership development from a complexity perspective.

To stimulate sustained leadership development, a holistic model is described that incorporates emotional and neuroendocrine aspects of learning, as well as behavioral change. Intentional change theory, developed over 20 years utilizing longitudinal studies of competency development and complexity theory, can expand our impact on leadership development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypothesis evaluation from a Bayesian perspective.

Explores the potential of Bayesian inference as a theoretical framework for describing how people evaluate hypotheses. First, a set of logically possible forms of non-Bayesian behavior is identified. Second, existing research is reviewed in a variety of areas to see whether these possibilities are ever realized. The analysis shows that in some situations several apparently distinct phenomena are usefully viewed as special cases of the same kind of behavior, whereas in other situations previous investigations have conferred a common label (e.g., confirmation bias) to several distinct phenomena. A number of attributions of judgmental bias are called into question, and it is suggested that in some cases the bias is different than what has previously been claimed, whereas in others there may be no bias at all. (89 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Location and utilization of available behavioral measurement instruments.

Contends that the continuing production and use of quickly devised and unproven behavioral measurement instruments introduces undesirable ambiguity into the measurement process, which makes it difficult to compare the results of different studies and to test theoretical propositions fairly. This problem could be alleviated by greater use and refinement of available instruments. The location and evaluation of available measures are discussed, and a 10-page annotated bibliography of compendia is presented to aid in the process. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adverse impact from a psychometric perspective.

Applied latent trait theory to an analysis of a 64-item multiple-choice skill test administered to 1,035 police recruits to illustrate how 2 shorter tests measuring the same attribute, but having different test characteristic curves, have different degrees of adverse impact. Specifically, ability differences between groups (195 Blacks, 373 Whites) were minimized by use of a 22-item wide-range test and exaggerated by use of a 22-item narrow-range test. In light of these data, claims such as those that performance tests have less adverse impact than paper-and-pencil tests are open to question; the differences attributed to the type of test are completely confounded with the differences in psychometric properties of the tests. The authors propose that the concept of adverse impact be redefined in terms of the degree to which test scores distort any underlying true subgroup differences in the attribute measured. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)