Effective and efficient methods are needed for identifying children who are at risk for later social—emotional challenges. Internal consistencies on the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) within this sample (N = 1208) are comparable to the DECA standardization sample. Mean t scores and standard deviations on the behavior concerns subscale are significantly higher, t(1,292) = 2.71, p = .007, than the DECA community sample, t = 55.70, but significantly lower than the DECA identified sample. Total Protective Factors scale scores are inversely related to Behavior Concerns scale scores. The same three protective factors structure exists in the Head Start sample; however, there are differences in item loadings when compared to the DECA standardization sample. Overall, the psychometric properties of the DECA for this Head Start sample provide additional support for its inclusion within the mental health services provided to Head Start populations.

Issues related to the amount of knowledge that school professionals should have about this increasingly used treatment remain unresolved and warrant further research.

Faculty regularly review and update learning objectives for student learning activities such as lectures, small group sessions, on-line modules, and standardized patient or simulation encounters. The effectiveness of these learning objectives is linked to faculty evaluations in a general manner. The goal of this project was to assess the student-perceived usefulness of learning objectives, to provide feedback to faculty, and to determine if student-perceived usefulness of objectives was linked to student performance and faculty evaluations. An assessment tool was developed by students, revised, and validated prior to implementation during a 3-month study. Each learning objective was assessed during this period by members of the class (n=242), and data were analyzed. The results demonstrate that particular types of objectives were identified as being more or less useful for student learning and that student perception of learning objectives varies from faculty intent. Analyses also showed students performed less well on questions linked to objectives considered less useful. However, performance was stratified into two cohorts. Stronger and weaker students performed well or less well, respectively.

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