Strengths-Based Assessment of Children with SED: Consistency of Reporting by Teachers and Parents

Abstract

Parents and teachers rated the strengths of a group of 20 children diagnosed as having serious emotional disturbance. The degree of consistency between different informants' reports was examined to determine whether certain items and scales on the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale (BERS) were more appropriately answered by different sources or in different situations, and whether there were method effects associated with each group. A repeated measures ANOVA and correlations between the informants on each subscale demonstrated significant convergent and discriminant validity as well as possible assessment biases. Results also supported the need for developing separate norms for different informants.