Howard M. Knoff

The Challenge in mathematics and science education : psychology's response

This volume discusses, from the viewpoint of contemporary American psychology, the underlying scientific principles and mechanisms necessary to drive the process of educational change. Various chapters deal with social, cognitive, school and clinical psychology.

Testing the Structure of the Child Behavior Checklist/4-18 Using Confirmatory Factor Analysis:

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to evaluate the factor structure of T. M. Achenbachs eight cross-informant syndrome scales of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCIJ4-18) using data generated on a sample of 631 youngsters, ages 8 to 18 years (M= 14.02, SD = 2.39), who had been classified as having serious emotional disturbances. Results of the CFA (overall fit, pattern of factor loadings, and syndrome correlations) support Achenbachs eight-correlated-factor model and provide additional evidence of the construct validity of the scores obtained from the CBCV/4-18.

Organizational Development and Strategic Planning for the Millennium: A Blueprint toward Effective School Discipline, Safety, and Crisis Prevention.

As we approach the millennium, there are numerous opportunities to expand the role of the school psychologist toward more desired consultation and prevention activities. To do this, however, school psychologists need to embrace an organizational development and strategic planning perspective, to see themselves as part of the school systemand as systems change agents,and to position themselves to be seen by othersas experts who understand both the change process and the school situations needing change. Two major issues continue to confront our nations schools: the ever-increasing numbers of special education students and the need to directly address issues of discipline, behavior management, and safety. This article presents a blueprint from Project ACHIEVE toward effective school discipline, safety, and crisis prevention both (a) to provide an example of how school psychologists can expand their role using organizational and strategic planning principles and activities and (b) to alert school psychologists as to a field-tested process that addresses the behavioral needs of all students and the safety and security needs of all schools.

The place of the school in community mental health services for children: A necessary interdependence

While a great deal of attention has focused on community-based delivery services for children with mental health needs, the potential of integrating school-based services, such that a comprehensive system of care is implemented, has been largely unrealized. As the school is a significant place for all children and a service delivery setting of great magnitude, this article discusses the necessary interdependence of school and community mental health service systems, especially in light of recent federal, state, and independent initiatives. An analysis of these initiatives is presented, and recommendations toward integrated services are suggested.

Gifted Children and Visual-Motor Development: A Comparison of Bender-Gestalt and VMI Test Performance.

A sample of 63 gifted elementary-school students was administered the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test and the Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration for comparative purposes and to test Koppitz hypothesis that gifted students have advanced visual-motor development. Group results revealed no significant differences between the two tests, that they did correlate significantly, and that younger students in particular had advanced visual-motor development when tested using these two tools.

GIFTED CHILDREN AND VISUAL AURAL DIGIT SPAN TEST PERFORMANCE

The performance of 81 gifted elementary students on the Visual Aural Digit Span test is discussed. The students generally showed advanced performance from Grade 1 through Grade 5 and from age 7–0 yr. through 11–11 yr. Performance at Grade 6 and the 12–0 to 12–11-yr.-old levels were generally at age-expected levels and were probably restricted due to the tests limited ceiling. Tables of means across grade and age and needs for further research are also presented.

Differential Effectiveness of Receptive Language and Visual-Motor Assessments in Identifying Academically Gifted Elementary School Students

A sample of 50 gifted elementary students were administered two receptive language tests (the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and its revised version) and two visual-motor tests (the Bender Visual-motor Gestalt Test and the Developmental Test of Visual-motor Integration). These scores were then evaluated against an achievement test battery. The receptive language and visual-motor measures did not account for a significant amount of the achievement tests variance, although some significant correlations were obtained. These results and their implications for identifying gifted elementary students are discussed.

Investigating the relationship between the Millon Adolescent Personality Inventory and the Personality Inventory for Children with a sample of learning disabled adolescents.

The present study involved a preliminary evaluation of the correlations between subscales on the Personality Inventory for Children and the Millon Adolescent Personality Inventory with 25 learning disabled adolescents. Analysis yielded a number of significant correlations between these two scales, using the Personality Inventory for Children as the anchor scale, and showed that these adolescents as a group scored within clinically acceptable ranges on both diagnostic scales. Both scales need further psychometric and clinical investigation, and as such, the limitations of the study and the research needed are addressed, including the need for more multitrait, multimethod studies.