This article presents information on the development and initial validation of the 16-item Response to Intervention (RTI) Beliefs Scale. The scale is designed to measure the extent to which educators working in schools hold beliefs consistent with the tenets of RTI. The authors administered the instrument to 2,430 educators in 62 elementary…

The authors encourage those in the field of school psychology to consider the use of learning disabilities assessment practices in relation to specific American Psychological Association and National Association of School Psychologists ethical codes and in regard to the American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association,…

Two studies were conducted with samples of middle and high school teachers and students to examine cross-informant agreement on the Academic Competence Evaluation Scales. Cross-informant agreement was examined using Pearson correlations and conditional probability indices. Results of Study 1 (N = 65) and Study 2 (N = 66) indicated that teacher and…

The majority of Tier 2 interventions are facilitated by specialized instructional support personnel, such as a school psychologists, school social workers, school counselors, or behavior consultants. Many professionals struggle to involve parents and teachers in Tier 2 behavior interventions. However, attention to the motivational issues for…

Although past research has examined repeated reading (RR) and listening passage preview (LPP) in great detail, several issues related to their applied usage with individual students remain. Questions including the number of times students are required to engage with the instructional materials during treatment and tracking fluency gains on…

Definitions of what constitute students who are gifted and talented as well as policies and procedures to identify these high-ability students play a critical role in determining which individuals actually receive gifted services. This article reports on a national survey of how state policies and practices define giftedness, identify gifted…

The purpose of this study was to extend prior flashcard drill and practice research by holding instructional time constant and allowing learning trials to vary. Specifically, the authors aimed to determine whether an incremental rehearsal method or a traditional drill and practice method was most efficient in helping 5 first-grade children read,…

This invited commentary includes observations about the article "Building Local Capacity for Training and Coaching Data-Based Problem Solving with Positive Behavior Interventions and Support Teams," published in the July 2011 issue of the "Journal of Applied School Psychology." In this article Newton and colleagues present an interesting field…

Positive Behavior Intervention and Support Teams use data to guide decisions about student social and academic behavior problems. In previous evaluation and research efforts, the authors taught team members to use Team-Initiated Problem Solving, a model that embeds data-based decision making into a broader problem-solving framework. In this study,…

The purpose of this article is to present Convergent Evidence Scaling (CES) as an emergent method for combining data from multiple assessment indicators. The CES method combines single-case assessment data by converging data gathered across multiple persons, settings, or measures, thereby providing an overall criterion-referenced outcome on which…

This article intends to help school psychologists understand the nature of high stakes tests, methods for analyzing and reporting high stakes test data, standards for tests and program evaluation, and application of appropriate practices to program planning and evaluation. Although it is readily acknowledged that high stakes test data are not…