Self-Ratings Of Professional Knowledge And Skills In Early Intervention

Abstract

This article describes the development and use of a 32-item self-rating of professional knowledge and skills in the context of early intervention for infants and toddlers with handicaps. Participants in a series of workshops designed to teach familyfocused skills completed the form prior to training. Although items on the scale differentiated knowledge and skills in 16 areas of competence, professionals did not make that distinction in rating themselves, with 73% of the knowledge items rated exactly the same as the skill items. A factor analysis revealed three clusters of items: family-focused ratings, child-focused ratings, and team-focused ratings. Cronbach's coefficient alpha indicated high internal consistency for each factor. Changes in participants' ratings over time are described, and implications of these findings for self-rating procedures in general and for evaluating inservice experiences in early intervention are discussed.Inservice education is widely accepted as a mechanism for helping professionals keep abreast of new knowledge about effective teaching or therapeutic practices. Workshops, institutes, conferences, university coursework, expert consultation, and independent study activities all form the core of typical inservice experiences. Although the need for inservice has been well established, serious questions about the effectiveness of traditional inservice experiences (Guskey, 1986) mean that some form of evaluation is essential.Most evaluation efforts address the extent to which participants are satisfied with the training experience. Ultimately, however, the providers of inservice education must ask whether the training actually influences professional practice. Unfortunately, the time and expense required to document change in professional practice serve as substantial barriers to meaningful evaluation. The lack of feasible alternatives often means that no evaluation is done.One economical alternative is to have the recipients of training rate their own professional skills. In the present article, we review the research on self-ratings and discuss issues regarding their usefulness in evaluating the effects of inservice experiences. An instrument designed to assess the skills of professionals working with young children with handicaps and their families is described, and data are presented in support of its use as an evaluation procedure. Issues unique to inservice education in the context of early intervention are described, and implications for future research and training are discussed.

Creating communicative opportunities through a combined in‐service training and supervision package

“…However, the indirect measures used in this study, self-ratings and self-registrations, have been carried out in a manner that corresponds with the criteria for reliable self-registrations formulated by Nelson (1977). In addition the self-ratings (SPES) were conducted in accordance with the recommendations for valid self-ratings made by Bailey, Buysse, and Palsha (1990), The information requested must be clearly defined; the self-rater must be able to provide the information sought; and the person providing the information should have a good motive for doing so.…”

Self-Rating as an Evaluation Tool following Continuing Professional Education

“…Evaluating the impact of workshops should include instruments that measure the intended changes resulting from the workshop (Wergin, Mazmanian, Miller, Papp, & Williams, 1988). Other authors have suggested that self-rating of performance may be an effective and economical alternative to assess changes in practice (Bailey et al, 1990), but addressing the reliability and validity of a self-rating measure is essential. This article documents the development of a self-rating of performance measure that was used in conjunction with other measures.…”

“…Other studies have asked participants to rate how well they know information or perform certain tasks (Ferrell, 1988;Hewitt, Hobday, & Crawford, 1989). Respondents do not appear to discriminate between self-reporting of knowledge and how they rate their skill level (Bailey, Buysse, & Palsha, 1990), suggesting that asking participants to rate themselves taps a global sense of self-efficacy.…”

Interdisciplinary Collaboration Among Early Intervention Faculty Members

“…Pilot data from 19 faculty members on the Interdisciplinary Collaboration Survey were collected and analyzed. The test-retest method Description and Scoring of Interdisciplinary Collaboration Survey -'Specific Self-Efficacy score based on and partially adapted from Bailey, Buysse, and Palsha's ( 1990) questionnaire designed to assess self-efficacy of early childhood interventionists. was used to assess reliability of the sections measuring specific self-efficacy and value placed on interdisciplinary collaboration and revealed adequate reliability for the specific self-efficacy sections (r = .76) and for the value section (r = .92).…”