Generalizability Theory and the Social Competence Performance Checklist.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The Social Competence Performance Checklist (Stoiber, 2004), a behavior rating scale designed for the purpose of identifying priority concerns and developing intervention plans, was evaluated in a suburban public school and urban Head Start setting. In the suburban public school, children in kindergarten and fourth grade were rated according to the scale. The urban Head Start setting included children in early childhood classrooms. Using Generalizability Theory, the contribution of raters, occasions, and items was analyzed in several separate Generalizability studies. Optimal levels of each facet were determined through the use of Decision studies. Overall, higher levels of dependability were found in the suburban public school sample as compared to the urban Head Start sample and in the intermediate grade level as compared to the early childhood/kindergarten grade level. Possible explanations include the level of cultural match within pairs of raters and between raters and children, as well as differences in educational level of the raters.