Carl J. Schnittjer

Dimensions of problem behavior in deaf children.

The Behavior Problem Checklist was completed by the teachers of 192 deaf students who attended a special day school for the deaf. Three separate factor analyses were performed. Four factors that correspond to the dimensions found in earlier research and previously labeled conduct disorder, personality problems, immaturity inadequacy, and socialized delinquency were found. An additional factor labeled passive inferiority was also extracted.

Factors of Problem Behavior in Visually Impaired Children.

The Behavior Problem Checklist was completed by teachers of 104 students in a residential school for the visually impaired. Four separate factor analyses were performed. Additional analyses were conducted to determine the effect on the factor structure of sex, race, and age. Three factors that correspond to dimensions found in earlier research and previously labeled conduct disorder, personality problem, and inadequacy-immaturity were found. Overall, the visually impaired children tended to have problem behavior patterns similar to other populations, and these patterns were largely independent of the visual handicap.

The Prevalence of Behavior Problems in Deaf Children.

The appropriateness of the Behavior Problem Checklist for deaf children has been established in various studies. The objective of this study was to use the Behavior Problem Checklist to assess the prevalence of behavior problems in deaf children and to compare these results to earlier studies of behavior problems of hearing and hearing-impaired children. A lesser prevalence of behavior problems was found than in some earlier studies of deaf children. Results were somewhat more consistent with past findings regarding children with no hearing problems. Comparisons by sex found, as in earlier studies, that boys tended to evidence more behavior problems than girls.

Item-Analysis Programs: A Comparative Investigation of Performance.

This study was designed to describe and to compare five selected computer programs performing item analysis. A single set of data was processed by each of five item-analysis programs. Detailed comparisons were then tabulated using the following criteria: Run Characteristics, Limitations, and Analysis Features and Options. No one program was best for all applications. The comparisons provided should aid the researcher in choosing the program best suited to his analysis requirements.

Consistency of the Behavior Problem Checklist Across Deaf, Blind, and Non-Handicapped Children

This study was designed to compare the factor structure and degree of deviance for three groups of children namely; non-handicapped, deaf, and blind on the Behavior Problem Checklist (BPC). Congruence coefficients were determined for all possible combinations of factors from each of the three studies. The actual items comprising each factor were also compared. A third comparison procedure was based on the degree of deviation found in total score distributions for each of the factors in each study based on the Behavior Problem Checklist Manual Procedure. The first two factors (i.e., Conduct Problem and Personality Problem) held up consistently for each of the three comparison schemes across all three studies. The third factor (Inadequacy-Immaturity) had a much less consistent pattern with some pairs of studies more alike in this regard than others. These findings were consistent with previous studies which had used other means for comparison of consistency.

Behavior Problems in Blind Children and Youth: A Prevalence Study.

The Behavior Problem Checklist (Quay & Peterson, 1979) was completed by classroom teachers for 104 children and youth (64 boys and 40 girls) at a state residential school for the blind to determine the prevalence of problem behavior. Results were compared to earlier studies of behavior problems of nonhandicapped children and of two groups of hearing-impaired children, one living at home and attending a community program and a second group attending a state residential school. Results were more similar to those obtained with the hearing-impaired children in the residential setting than to either the nonhandicapped or the hearing-impaired living at home. Comparisons by sex failed to find statistically significant differences.

The Relative Performance of Five Computer Program Packages which Perform Factorial Univariate Analysis of Covariance

This study was designed to provide indepth analytic comparisons of five commonly available packaged computer programs which perform factorial univariate analysis of covariance. The five packages : Statistical Analysis System (SAS), DATATEXT, Biomedical Computer Programs (BMDO3V and BMDO12V), and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) were compared by running each program using the same set of data. Comparative data were then tabulated according to the following criteria: (1) Manual Usability, (2) Data Processing Features, and (3) Statistical Analysis Characteristics. SAS was felt to be the best overall package based on ease of set-up, accuracy, analytic completeness, and readability. However, each program had certain features which might make it more desirable for a given analysis situation.

Principal-Axis Factor Analysis: a Comparison of Four Selected Computer Program Packages

The purpose of this study was to make analytic comparisons of four commonly available packaged computer programs which perform principal-axis factor analysis. The four programs: Statistical Analysis System (SAS, DATA-TEXT, Biomedical Computer Programs (BMDO8M), and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) were compared by running each program using the same set of data. Comparisons were tabulated according to the following criteria: (1) Manual Characteristics, (2) Data Processing Features, and (3) Statistical Analysis Characteristics. SPSS was considered to be the best overall program because of its excellent pedagogy, cost, accuracy, statistical analysis sufficiency, and output which included a graphic display of variable loadings on rotated factors as an option. However, each program had certain unique characteristics which might make it more nearly conform to the requirements of a particular situation.

Impact of certification testing on school administrators: The Georgia experience

Widespread competency testing in education has become prevalent throughout the United States. This testing has taken two tracks: the testing of educators and the testing of students. The focus of this article is on the testing of educators prior to certification. Currently 44 states have in place or are in the process of implementing some form of testing for educators prior to certification (Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 1987; Sandefur, 1984). For some states, certification testing is firmly established. In other states, such testing is in various stages of development. For example, Georgia, Oklahoma, Alabama, South Carolina, Florida, Arizona, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Virginia, North Carolina, New Mexico, Colorado, and Arkansas implemented certification testing programs prior to 1984 (Sandefur, 1984). On the other hand, Maryland, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Illinois have implemented their program as recently as 1987 and 1988 (Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 1987). There are also variations in terms of the type of testing procedure employed. The states of Georgia, Oklahoma, and Alabama, through contracts with the National Evaluation Systems (NES), have developed separate certification tests for most of the areas in which they issue certificates. South Carolina uses some of the National Teachers Examinations (NTE), published by Educational Testing Service (Princeton, N J), and contracts with NES for other tests which are used to cover content fields not available from the NTE series. Other states (e.g., Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Virginia, North Carolina, New Mexico, and Kentucky) use the NTE exclusively. Florida has developed one professional knowledge test that all teachers in all fields must pass in order to be certified (Flippo & Foster, 1984). However, they have also developed

THE USE OF THE BEHAVIOR PROBLEM CHECKLIST WITH GREEK DEAF CHILDREN IN CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH*

Abstract The Behavior Problem Checklist was completed by teachers of 127 students who attended a state supported school for the deaf in Athens, Greece. Analyses were performed which generated three, four, five, and ten factors. The biographic variables of sex and age were also included in some of the analyses to determine their effect, if any, on the factor structure. Results of the analyses were compared to analogous results for U.S. deaf children and Greek hearing children. Three factors which correspond to dimensions found in earlier research and previously labeled conduct problem, personality problem, and inadequacy-immaturity were found. Overall the Greek deaf children tended to have problem behavior patterns similar to the U.S. deaf and Greek hearing as well as other populations. It was apparent that these patterns for the Greek deaf children were largely independent of the deafness handicap and differences in cultural background.