Chapters 9

1
Chapters 9 12 The time has come, theWalrus
said, To talk of many things . . . .

• As teachers, we tend to believe
• that how we feel affects how we
• think . . . of course, cognitive
• psychology tells us it is the other
• way around . . . so, lets explore!
• For purposes of discussion,
• lets use the passé phrase
• Affective Domain for this
• important sub-surface area
• related to achievement.
• In this chapter we explore
• ways to attain and analyze
• this type of useful information.

2
Affective Domain Explorations . . .

• Interest Inventories / Attitude Surveys
• Ability and Aptitude Tests
• Creativity Tests
• Personality Tests
• Non-test Indicators Unobtrusive Measures

3
Lets begin with a little attitude . .
.Satisfaction Surveys / Self-Assessment Reports

• Could be used with individuals in your class,
  grade level, building or school district.
• Organizing the survey
• Whose is the target (students, parents, public)?
• What questions will be asked (school climate,
  achievement)?
• How will it be administered (in class, sent home,
  telephone)?
• Typical survey statements
• I believe I am doing well in class.
• My childs teacher really knows my child.
• Teachers teach me in a way that makes me want to
  learn.
• I feel my tax money is being well spent.

4
Thoughts on include . . . Student Self-Reports
and Self-Assessment

• May encourage students to develop skills in
  self-awareness and self-assessment.
• Like any self-report, honesty is an issue.
  Classroom needs to have a positive atmosphere.
  Dont use to determine a students grade
  anonymous data collection could ensure this.
  Best used for your own feedback.
• In a nonthreatening environment, there is a
  positive correlation better self-reports of
  achievement and actual achievement measured on
  academic tests.
• Most of assessments of this nature use a Likert
  Scale . . . lets learn a bit about this scale.

5
Weve got class, some classroom ideas on using .
. . Inventories/Surveys, and the Likert Scale

• The Likert Scale is the most common method used
  in assessment for the areas in the Affective
  Domain. It is both simple and flexible. A
  Likert Scale can be created related to any topic
  on which you want to assess students interests,
  attitudes, opinions, or feelings. Simply
• Define an affective domain topic related to your
  classroom.
• Think of different facets about the topic.
• Generate a series of favorable and unfavorable
  statements regarding the topic. These are
  sometimes called survey items and the whole
  group is often called a survey or inventory.
• Develop the response scale for the survey.
• Administer the survey.
• Score the results.
• Identify and eliminate items that fail to
  function in accord with the other items (i.e.,
  look for bad items).

6
Rensis Likert (19031981)(pronounced 'Lick-urt')

• Likert, born and raised in Cheyenne, WY, was
  training to be an engineer with the Union Pacific
  Railroad when the Great Railroad Strike of 1922
  occurred. The lack of communication between the
  two parties made a profound impression on him and
  may have led him to study conflict management and
  organizational theory for most of his life.
• In 1926, he graduated from the University of
  Michigan, Ann Arbor. He returned there in 1946 as
  professor of psychology and sociology. In
  addition to his famous Likert Scale he is noted
  for his management dictum that The greater the
  loyalty of a group toward the group, the greater
  is the motivation among the members to achieve
  the goals of the group, and the greater the
  probability that the group will achieve its
  goals.

7
A Likert-type item may have many . . .Response
Label Variations
8
Creating Scores forLikert-type Items

• Provide number values to the scale add them up
  to suggest an individuals overall attitude
  score. (See below).
• If you have many peoples opinions, you can also
  add the numbers by opinion topic then divide by
  the number of respondents to get an average
  attitude score (See President Concerns, 2008).

9
Reverse Wording Option when . . .Creating and
Scoring Likert-type Items

• To avoid having some students straight line their
  responses, state some statements in a reverse
  direction. Be sure to remember you did this when
  you total the points. (See Below)
• Also see Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale.

10
Pitfalls to Avoid. . . when creating a survey
for your classroom or school.

• Be sure you and your students know the purpose of
  the survey and how the information will be used.
  (e.g., Will individual responses be
  confidential?)
• Keep it short (e.g., generally one page is
  sufficient).
• Beware of lingo or jargon terms (e.g., Do you
  favor inclusion?).
• Watch out for ambiguous meaning (e.g., Which
  class is best?).
• Do not ask more than one question at a time
  (e.g., Do you favor more homework and more
  library assignments?).
• Avoid loaded or leading questions (e.g., Do you
  believe that it is important to treat your fellow
  students fairly?).
• Make sure that fixed-response questions have a
  place for every possible answer (e.g., Would you
  prefer to study history or economics?).
• Place the more sensitive questions at the end of
  the survey.
• Run the survey by other professionals before you
  distribute it. If necessary, obtain clearance
  from your principal or school district.
• Don't reward or punish students based on their
  responses.

11
Interests, Attitudes and Opinion Assessment. .
. some closing questions

• What about student faking?
• May choose socially desirable response.
• May try to please or shock the teacher.
• Main remedy is non-threatening environment.
• How stable are students interests, attitudes and
  opinions?
• May depend on the topic and person.
• We do expect to change them . . . (or do you?).
• What about using constructed or free-response
  measures?
• Can be used.
• Not often used in practice.

12
And a closing example . . .Career Interest
Inventories

• These tests attempt to match a persons
  personality and interests with a specific work
  environment and/or career.
• Problems
• Honesty 1 . . . Would you rather compute wages
  for payroll records or read to a blind person?
  Which is more socially acceptable?
• Honesty 2 . . . Knowing where the questions are
  leading . . . I want Special Education so I know
  I should choose read to blind person.
• Is there a connection between what one would like
  to do and what one would really be good at doing?
• What about the idea of learning to like on the
  job and/or in developing new interests?
• Widely used inventories (taking more than one is
  recommended)
• Strong
• Kuder

13
Mental Ability Tests . . . usual purpose of
ability testing is prediction

• Mental ability (also called intelligence,
  aptitude, learning ability, academic potential,
  cognitive ability, ad infinitum). We have
  already discussed the IQ as a normed score . . .
  Lets look a little deeper.
• Theories about Mental Ability
• Unitary theory g
• Multiple, independent abilities (about 7)
• e.g., verbal, numerical, spatial, perceptual
• Hierarchical theory currently dominant See
  next slide

14
Hierarchical Theory of Mental Ability
15
Individually AdministeredMental Ability Tests

• General features
• One-on-one administration
• Requires advanced training for administration
• Usually about 1 hour
• Mixture of items
• Examples
• WISC-IV
• Stanford-Binet

16
Group AdministeredMental Ability Tests

• General Features
• Administered to any size group
• Types of items content similar to individually
  administered but in multiple-choice format
• Examples
• Elementary/secondary
• Others (e.g.. SAT, ACT, GRE)

17
Learning Disabilities

• The basic definition is simple, to wit, there is
  a discrepancy between measured intelligence and
  measured achievement. But enter the Diagnostic
  and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
  (DSM-IV) The DSM-IV organizes each psychiatric
  diagnosis into five levels (axes) relating to
  different aspects of disorder or disability.
  Located in the Axis 1 level are developmental and
  learning disorders.
• Common Axis I disorders include phobias,
  depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorders,
  and learning disabilities (like reading disorder,
  mathematics disorder, disorder of written
  expression, ADHD) and communications disorders
  (like stuttering).
• The DSM-IV manual states that this manual is
  produced for the completion of Federal
  legislative mandates and its use by people
  without clinical training can lead to
  inappropriate application of its contents.
  Appropriate use of the diagnostic criteria is
  said to require extensive clinical training, and
  its contents cannot simply be applied in a
  cookbook fashion.

18
. . . Among Professionals

• The American Psychological Association (APA) has
  stated clearly that its diagnostic labels are
  primarily for use as a convenient shorthand
  among professionals.
• Do you think the among professionals phrase as
  used by the APA applies to high teachers whose
  field is not Special Education? Implications?

19
IDEA 2004 . . .. . . children with learning
disabilities in high school.

• The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
  (IDEA) is a law ensuring services to children
  with disabilities throughout the nation. Children
  and youth (ages 3-21) receive special education
  and related services under IDEA Part B.
• In updating the IDEA, Congress found that the
  education of children with disabilities,
  including learning disabilities (LD), can be made
  more effective by having high expectations for
  such children and ensuring their access to the
  general education curriculum in the regular
  classroom to the maximum extent possible.
• If students with LD are going to succeed in
  school, they must have access to teachers who
  know the general curriculum, as well as support
  from teachers trained in instructional strategies
  and techniques that address their specific
  learning needs. Unfortunately, studies have shown
  that students with LD are often the victims of
  watered down curriculum and teaching approaches
  that are neither individualized nor proven to be
  effective.

20
Creativity (aka Creative Thinking)

• Definition? More than 60 different definitions
  of creativity can be found in the psychological
  literature. Other terms one often hears
  associated with creative thinking are divergent
  thinking, originality, ingenuity, unusualness.
• Creative thinking is generally considered to be
  involved with the creation or generation of
  ideas, processes, experiences or objects.
  Critical thinking is concerned with their
  evaluation.
• In measuring creativity, we typically use
  constructed response items looking for one or
  more of the creativity characteristics. The
  format is similar to that of an essay, the
  student is given a prompt . . . except now we are
  looking for divergent thinking, not convergent
  thinking.

21
Example Prompts for creative thinking

• General
• All the uses for (a common object)
• All the words beginning with (a letter)
• Captions or titles for . . .
• Field specific (tailored to content)
• How would U.S. differ today if . . .
• Different ending for a play or story
• Diverse descriptions for a work of art

22
Creativity Scoring . . . a menu of five primary
ways to score responses.

• Count sum the number of ideas or responses.
• Count with quality rating each response has a
  quality rating (e.g. 1-3) sum the ratings.
• Single best response scan all responses, find
  the students best response, rate only that
  response using a quality rating scale (e.g. 1-3).
• Originality the response(s) provided is/are
  infrequently seen (you might need experience to
  determine this).
• Different perspectives count opposing ideas the
  student generates in responding to a prompt.

23
Standardized Tests for Creativity

• Nationwide, many school districts use
  standardized creativity tests for the purpose of
  screening and identifying gifted students.
• One of the most often used is the Torrance Tests
  of Creative Thinking (TTCT). It is produced in
  two forms Thinking Creatively with Pictures
  Thinking Creatively with Words.
• Check it out at the Scholastic Testing Service
  Gifted website.
• http//www.ststesting.com/2005giftttct.html

24
In the News . . Cleveland Plain Dealer, January
22, 2008, post on Gifted Education in Ohio

• No federal law requires school districts to
  identify or serve gifted students -- unlike
  special education for children with disabilities.
  That leaves it up to the individual states, and
  only 31 of them require districts to provide
  gifted services, according to the National
  Association for Gifted Children. Ohio is not
  among them.
• In Ohio, districts are only required to identify
  gifted students. Roughly 16 percent of the
  state's public school enrollment is classified as
  gifted. But last school year, only 26 percent of
  those students received either full or partial
  services, according to data filed with the Ohio
  Department of Education . . . . Research shows
  that while some gifted students do well without
  special services, the majority need more than the
  usual classroom experience.

25
As Paul Harvey might say, And now, the rest of
the story . . .

• Teachers like to use rest of variations in
  teaching. These tasks (aka tests) are often
  called projective techniques. Students are
  asked to be creative and think about what came
  before, what might happen next, or how a story
  might end.
• Before leaving this area, lets take a look some
  rest of tests. To the top right is an example
  of the Rorschach Ink Blot Test .
• What do you think it measures?

26
The Thematic Apperception Test . . . what do you
think this test measures?
27
The Draw a Person Test . . . What do you think
this test measures?
28
Behavior Rating Scales

• Many professionals express the need to move away
  from norm-referenced measures and recommend
  utilizing a more functional assessment approach.
  Members of the counseling field also are
  advocating for behavioral assessment alternatives
  to more formal procedures.
• The following recommendations for educators are
  appropriate when considering implementing a
  behavior rating scale
• Have a variety of people who know the child
  complete the scale (e.g., caregivers, parents,
  teachers).
• Make sure ratings on the childs behavior is
  being collected from a number of different
  environments.
• Before using a particular rating scale, make sure
  it reflects overall goals of the assessment
  process.
• Care should be taken so that information about
  the student is not skewed toward the negative.
• Be aware that scales reflect perceptions about
  students and multiple informants and inter-rater
  reliability checks can corroborate or contradict
  these perceptions.

29
Areas often covered on a . . .Behavior Rating
Scale

• Aggression Anger
• Anxiety Depression
• Hyperactivity Inattention
• Opposition Withdrawal

30
Example of a simple . . .Behavior Rating Scale

• 0 1 2 3
• This student . . . Never Sometimes Often
  Always
• 1. Arrives late for class 0 1
  2 3
• 2. Daydreams 0 1 2 3
• 3. Does sloppy work 0 1 2
  3
• 4. Talks inappropriately 0 1 2
  3
• 5. Disrespects authority 0 1 2
  3
• 6. Completes work late 0 1 2
  3
• 7. Seeks attention 0 1
  2 3
• 8. Hits other students 0 1 2
  3

31
Non-test Indicators as. . . important sources
of data on student accomplishment.

• These indicators serve to remind us that schools
  are pursing goals other than high test scores.
• The Ohio School Report Card includes both test
  and non-test indicators
• Examples of Data Collected
• Routine Record Indexes
• Absentee rates tardiness rates graduation
  rates discipline rates athletic, club,
  volunteer participation rates, teachers who
  students took for class.
• Destination after high school what are the
  connections among grades, test scores, routine
  records to later achievements?
• College? Where (selective or open admission)?
  Scholarship? Stay with it or drop out?
• Workforce? Type of Job? Pay? Fired (Why)?
• Other? (jail, unemployed, etc.) Is school
  complicit? IF YOU CANT READ THIS, THANK A
  TEACHER . . . .

32
Non-test indicators include . . . Unobtrusive
measures

• Unobtrusive measures are those assessments that
  occur in the normal environment and that the
  persons involved are oblivious to the assessment.
• Examples
• Student graffiti - desktops, lockers, restrooms .
  . .
• Library books checked out in Spanish . . .
• Winners at YSU History Day . . .
• Hits on class website . . .
• The best source of unobtrusive data is gathered
  daily, in the classroom, by the teachers like
  you, as they teach.

33
How about . . . An unobtrusive measure for
yourself.

• Stress the Biodot . . .
• Notice the scale differences
• on the two cards displayed

34
Practical Advice

1. Include objectives related to interests and
   attitudes in your objectives and in assessment.
2. Identify and use a few non-test indicators of
   student accomplishment.
3. Practice making up simple scales for measuring
   interests and attitudes using the Likert method.
   Apply concepts of reliability and validity to all
   these tests.
4. Gain experience in developing prompts calling for
   divergent thinking and in scoring responses.

35
Terms Concepts to Review andStudy on Your Own (1)

• cognitive outcomes
• non-cognitive outcomes
• convergent thinking
• divergent thinking
• faking
• Likert method
• non-test indicator
• unobtrusive measure

36
Terms Concepts to Review andStudy on Your Own (2)

• behavior rating scale
• DSM-IV
• hierarchical model
• projective technique
• self-report inventory