Identifying Contributors to Disproportionality: The Influence of Perception on Student Social, Emotional, and Academic Behavior Ratings

Author

Chelsea Salvatore, University of South Florida

Graduation Year

2023

Document Type

Ed. Specalist

Degree

*Ed.S.

Degree Name

Education Specialist (Ed.S.)

Degree Granting Department

Educational Measurement and Research

Major Professor

Nathaniel von der Embse, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Eunsook Kim, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Jose Castillo, Ph.D.

Keywords

behavioral risk, perspective, universal screening, utility

Abstract

Successful implementation of the MTSS framework involves equitable assessment and decision-making. This calls for researchers to investigate the processes utilized to identify students for early behavioral support, such as multi-informant universal social-emotional behavioral screening. The current study aimed to investigate this by first examining the usability of the Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Subscale (SAEBRS) and the student self-report version (mySAEBRS) across Black and White students in grades seven through nine. After examining these tools for measurement invariance, the trifactor model was employed with race as a predictor variable to examine the mean difference of Black and White students’ scores in terms of the common factor, and unique perspective factors. The SAEBRS and mySAEBRS Academic and Emotional Behavior Subscales were invariant across Black and White students in the sample, implying that these subscales may be culturally responsive to these populations. The SAEBRS and mySAEBRS Social Behavior Subscale, however, did not show measurement invariance across Black and White students, and thus, could not be included in the trifactor model evaluation. Black students scored lower than White students similarly across all three factors on the Academic Behavior Subscales. On the Emotional Behavior Subscales, Black students were rated higher than White students in terms of the student perspective factor but were significantly rated lower than White students in terms of the teacher perspective factor. These findings may imply an influence of implicit racial bias on student SAEBRS scores, but this could not be distinguished from the influence of other teacher or school characteristics.

Scholar Commons Citation

Salvatore, Chelsea, "Identifying Contributors to Disproportionality: The Influence of Perception on Student Social, Emotional, and Academic Behavior Ratings" (2023). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/9926