Reading Ability as a Performance Predictor in a Behaviorally Based Psychology Course

The purpose of this study was to investigate informal phonological awareness measures as predictors of first-grade broad reading ability. Subjects were 91 former Head Start students who were administered standardized assessments of cognitive ability and receptive vocabulary, and informal phonological awareness measures during kindergarten and early first grade. Regression analyses indicated that three phonological awareness tasks, Invented Spelling, Categorization, and Blending, were the most predictive of standardized reading measures obtained at the end of first grade. Discriminant analyses indicated that these three phonological awareness tasks correctly identified at-risk students with 92% accuracy. Clinical use of a cutoff score for these measures is suggested, along with general intervention guidelines for practicing clinicians.

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A Triarchic Analysis of an Aptitude-Treatment Interaction

European Journal of Psychological Assessment ◽

10.1027//1015-5759.15.1.3 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 3-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 96

Author(s):

Robert J. Sternberg ◽

Elena L. Grigorenko ◽

Michel Ferrari ◽

Pamela Clinkenbeard

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

High School Students ◽

Introductory Psychology ◽

College Level ◽

School Students ◽

Treatment Interaction ◽

Aptitude Treatment Interaction ◽

Psychology Course

Summary: This article describes a triarchic analysis of an aptitude-treatment interaction in a college-level introductory-psychology course given to selected high-school students. Of the 326 total participants, 199 were selected to be high in analytical, creative, or practical abilities, or in all three abilities, or in none of the three abilities. The selected students were placed in a course that either well matched or did not match their pattern of analytical, creative, and practical abilities. All students were assessed for memory, analytical, creative, and practical achievement. The data showed an aptitude-treatment interaction between students' varied ability patterns and the match or mismatch of these abilities to the different instructional groups.

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Question Wording Effects in the Assessment of Global Self-Esteem

European Journal of Psychological Assessment ◽

10.1027//1015-5759.16.1.13 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 13-19 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

Martin Dunbar ◽

Graeme Ford ◽

Kate Hunt ◽

Geoff Der

Keyword(s):

Reading Ability ◽

Factor Model ◽

Self Esteem ◽

Reading Scores ◽

Poor Reading ◽

Method Effect ◽

Two Samples ◽

Positive Item ◽

Method Effects ◽

Best Fit

Summary: Marsh (1996) produced evidence that method effects associated with negatively worded items might be responsible for the results of earlier factor analytic studies that reported finding positive and negative self-esteem factors in the Rosenberg Global self-esteem scale ( Rosenberg, 1965 ). He analyzed data collected from children using a 7-item self-esteem measure. This report details attempts to replicate Marsh 's analysis in data collected from two samples of adults who completed the full 10-item Global Self-Esteem (GSE) scale. The results reported here are similar to those given by Marsh in so much as a correlated uniquenesses model produced a superior fit to the data than the simple one factor model (without correlated uniquenesses) or the often reported two factor (positive and negative self-esteem) model. However, whilst Marsh reported that the best fit was produced by allowing negative item uniquenesses to correlate with each other, the model that produced the best fit to these data was one that contained correlated positive item uniquenesses. Supporting his claim that differential responding to negative and positive self-esteem items reflects a method effect associated with reading ability, Marsh also showed that factors associated with negative and positive items were most distinct among children who had poor reading scores. We report a similar effect among a sample of older adults where the correlation between these factors was compared across two groups who were selected according to their scores on a test of verbal reasoning.

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