Development and Validation of the Academic Competence Evaluation Scales

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify the construct of academic competence and develop a valid teacher rating instrument to assess this construct. A 95-item pilot scale, the Academic Competence Evaluation Scales (ACES), was developed to assess the theoretical components (i.e., academic skills, study skills, academic motivation, interpersonal skills, and academic self-concept) hypothesized to contribute to the construct of academic competence. The ACES was administered to 56 teachers who rated 300 students in Grades 1 through 6. To explore convergent and discriminant validity, 13 teachers completed ratings of social skills, problem behaviors, and academic competence (as measured by the Social Skills Rating System; SSRS) for 60 students. In addition, 32 students completed the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS), a popular measure of academic achievement. Teacher feedback, item Importance ratings, item-ITBS correlations, and the results of an exploratory factor analysis were used to eliminate 35 items from the pilot scale. The resulting 60-item version of the ACES consists of five related scales: Academic Skills, Interpersonal Skills, Academic Motivation, Participation, and Study Skills. Internal consistency (median a = .95) and test-retest stability (median r= .83) were high for the ACES, and correlational analyses indicated that scores from the ACES are valid indicators of student academic competence. Implications for using the ACES are discussed, and suggestions are offered for research necessary to advance the development of the ACES as a reliable and valid clinical tool.

Comparando Indicadores Psicométricos de Duas Versões Brasileiras do Social Skills Rating System : Uma Revisão da Literatura

“…(Rubin, Coplan, & Bowker, 2009) e externalizantes (que envolvem comportamento agressivo, opositor, coercitivo, dentre outros) (Sorlie, Hagen, & Ogden, 2008), dentre outros indicadores (Bierman, Torres, & Schofield, 2010). Soma-se a esses elementos, o fato de que um repertório elaborado de habilidades sociais consiste em uma variável preditora de trajetórias acadêmicas positivas das crianças, conforme apontam alguns estudos longitudinais (Caprara, Barbaranelli, Pastorelli, Bandura, & Zimbardo, 2000;DiPerna & Elliott, 1999;Malecki & Elliott, 2002).…”

School counselors: importance of the personal and participatory dimension in attitudinal competences = Orientadores escolares: importancia de la dimensión personal y participativa en las competencias actitudinales

“…We point at the need to include not just knowledge (know) or abilities and skills (know how to do) in school counselors' training, but also to incorporate the acquisition of attitudes (know how to be/ know how to act) into their professional competences (Adams, McNeil & Dubsick, 2004). In the investigation, the questionnaire used presents a factorial structure and a satisfactory internal consistency, similar to that obtained in some other opinion tests about counselors' competences (DiPerna & Elliot, 1999;Echeverría, 2005;Fernández-Berrocal, Extremera & Ramos, 2004).…”

“…From this perspective, the counselor must adopt a holistic approach to methods of support and mutual collaboration (Blankstein, Houston & Cole, 2008) with all professionals in the educational community. Subsequently projects have started to emerge meant to design and validate scales with the purpose of finding out the basic aspects needed for the counselors' competences credentials (DiPerna & Elliot, 1999;Fernández-Berrocal, Extremera & Ramos, 2004). This way differences started to be set, between basic or core competences (professional behavior, interpersonal competence, knowledge of the progress of the career and evaluation of needs) and specialization competences (evaluation, school guidance, progress of the career, advising, information control, consultation and coordination, investigation and evaluation, management of programs and services, development of the capacity to interact with the community, and employment).…”

Development, validation, and implementation of the elementary mathematics motivation inventory (EMMI): examining motivational constructs in elementary mathematics

“…Studies indicate that self-efficacy is positively correlated with student achievement [15,16,31,47,54]. Students who believe that they can perform well in a specific academic domain make healthier attributions for both success and failure, consequently supporting learning strategies that are associated with higher student achievement [53].…”

“…414]. Highly motivated students may be more likely to engage in behaviors that enhance academic performance [15,16,31,54], including effective goalsetting, focusing effort, and persisting in academic challenges [35,51]. Highly motivated students also are more likely to view academic tasks as valuable and important [27,56].…”