We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Consistently inconsistent: An examination of the variability in the identification of emotional disturbance.
- Authors
Scardamalia, Kristin; Bentley‐Edwards, Keisha L.; Grasty, Kairys
- Abstract
The federal definition of emotional disturbance (ED) has been heavily criticized as vaguely defined and poorly operationalized yet there has not been a formal analysis of the reliability of the ED criteria. This study examined the reliability of the federal criteria for a special education designation of ED. A total of 179 school psychologists reviewed a mock special education report, made an eligibility determination, and provided information about their eligibility decision. In all, 56 participants found the student met ED eligibility criteria using 16 different combinations of the five criteria. Krippendorff's α, a statistic preferred for content analysis, was calculated as a measure of criterion reliability. Results indicated extremely poor reliability (α = 0.2011). These findings demonstrate the importance of redefining the existing criteria.
- Subjects
CONTENT analysis; IDENTIFICATION
- Publication
Psychology in the Schools, 2019, Vol 56, Issue 4, p569
- ISSN
0033-3085
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/pits.22213