Multi-Informant and Multicultural Advances in Evidence-Based Assessment of Students’ Behavioral/Emotional/Social Difficulties

Abstract

Abstract. This article presents practical tools for evidence-based assessment of students’ behavioral/emotional/social difficulties and strengths in culturally sensitive ways. The assessment instruments obtain teacher, parent, and student ratings, plus observations in classrooms and other group settings, in interviews, and in testing sessions. To document differences in students’ functioning in school and other contexts, plus differences between teacher, parent, and student perspectives, users can display cross-informant comparisons of ratings of specific difficulties items. Users can also display cross-informant comparisons between bar graphs of scores on empirically derived syndromes, DSM-oriented scales, Internalizing, Externalizing, and Total Problems. Scale scores are standardized according to norms for students’ gender and age, type of informant (teacher, parent, student), and multicultural norms. Multicultural norms are based on teacher, parent, and student ratings of population samples of students in many societies. The ratings were used to construct gender-, age-, and informant-specific norms for societies having relatively low difficulties scores, medium scores, or high scores. The assessment instruments can be used to identify students who need help and to tailor interventions to students’ needs. The same instruments can be used to measure changes by comparing pre- versus post-intervention scores. Brief instruments assess progress over short periods.