Ronald C. Force

The Dimensions of Students' Perceptions of Teaching Effectiveness.

The use of student ratings of instructional quality is enhanced by an understanding of the nature of the underlying dimensions. In the current investigation, confirmatory factor analysis procedures were used to assess the fit of the original solution for the Student’s Perceptions of Teaching Effectiveness questionnaire to a more recent sample of more than 7,000 university classes. Furthermore, a new exploratory factor analysis was used to examine the factor pattern after excluding certain items. The latter solution was crossvalidated on an additional sample. The analyses provided a clear interpretation of six first-order and two second-order dimensions of instructional quality that are useful across a broad range of university courses. The dimensions of teaching quality obtained by researchers are examined and compared to the results of the current study. Implications for the evaluation of perceived teaching quality are discussed.

The effectiveness of various degrees and circumstances of program completion of young male offenders in a residential treatment center.

Boys admitted to a treatment facility do not always complete their treatment. This study analyzes the follow-up socialized coping of boys preponderantly classified as conduct disordered who were admitted to a residential treatment center. The boys were categorized into 10 different groups, only 1 of which consisted of those who actually completed treatment. The differences between groups and subsequent coping were fairly pronounced and highly significant. Further analysis indicated that very few of the group differences could be attributed to either age at admission or duration of treatment. Data analysis supported the hypothesis of treatment effectiveness in that boys who completed treatment did better in general than boys who did not, although those withdrawn by their parents did best of all. Furthermore, the rather pronounced differences among groups that failed to complete treatment raised certain methodological questions with regard to the practice of aggregating such groups in evaluation research.

An examination of counselor ratings of behavior problem youth in an early stage, community-based intervention program

Explored counselor ratings of 10- to 13-year-old Ss (33 girls and 99 boys) in the first and last of three 15-day therapeutic camping trips. Counselors rated the Ss on on a 25-item, 6-point Likert scale. Examined were any perceived changes that occurred in the boys or girls according to the six factors extracted from the rating data. The factors found were: Group interferer, unstructured dependence, disliked but trying, outright offender, mutual leadership, and institutional adaptability. Results indicated a significant difference between boys and girls from third-trip comparisons on unstructured dependence. Only the boys showed significant differences between the first and third trips. Reliable counselor ratings were found, and boys were perceived by the counselors to change, while girls were not. A discussion of possible reasons and/or implications of the study was given.

Trends in Appropriate Adult Functioning and Biasing Risks in Longitudinal Follow-Ups of Boys With Conduct Disorders

Multiple telephone follow-up interviews have been conducted for a number of years for boys with conduct disorders treated at the Saint Francis Academy. These follow-ups are done 2 years and 5 years after treatment completion and again after the boys 24th birthday. An overall appropriate adult functioning (AAF) score is obtained for each boy contacted. Because the attrition rate is very low, these data provide an opportunity to investigate the stability of treatment effects over time. A substantial attempt was made to investigate the possibility that mean group changes in AAF over time might be due to differential attrition effects. Two separate analyses indicated that an attrition effect was not a major influence in AAF score changes. AAF was relatively stable between the 2- and 5-year follow-ups and showed some improvement.

A Structural Model of Appropriate Adult Functioning for Boys with Disruptive Behavior Disorders

Saint Francis Academy is a residential treatment center for boys with disruptive behavior disorders. Previously collected posttreatment data was factor analyzed yielding nine factors, six of which contributed to a second-order factor called Appropriate Adult Functioning. A structural model using these six factors produced from data collected from ex-residents at 2 years postrelease was analyzed using EQS (a structural modeling program). The model was then validated using data from subsequent follow-ups. Results required the removal of one path, but otherwise the a priori model fit the data for all three follow-ups. The adjustments in path values required for subsequent follow-ups allowed for dynamic interpretations. Of particular interest were the findings regarding the growing impact of Responsibility on Emotional-Well Being and Financial Independence and the relationship of Financial Independence to Legal Involvement. Implications for treatment design and evaluation strategies are given.