Abstract

This study investigated current practices in school districts in New York State for implementation of State and Federal mandates for screening of new entrants to school. The vagueness of the law allows for schools to determine what information they will collect and what instrument they will utilize. All 718 school districts in New York State were surveyed to ascertain the way that districts conducted Kindergarten screening. Questions included: the personnel involved in screening, the instrument used, the time it took to complete the screening, and how satisfied the district was with its current practice. Fifty-one percent (385) of the districts responded to the survey. Of those districts, 266 were satisfied or very satisfied with their current practice. The standardized instrument most frequently in use for kindergarten screening in NYS was the DIAL-R (25.5%). Twenty-nine percent of the participants responded that they used a locally developed instrument. Locally developed instruments ranged from utilizing parts of standardized measures to reading to children and observing their behavior. The mean length of time to screen each child was reported to be more than 20 minutes in 75 percent of the districts. The majority of the districts surveyed (95.38%) stated that they conduct individual screenings with each child.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Readiness for school--New York (State)--Testing; Preschool children--New York (State)--Ability testing

Publication Date

4-4-1997

Document Type

Thesis

Department, Program, or Center

Department of Psychology (CLA)

Advisor

DiFonzo, Nicholas

Comments

Note: imported from RIT’s Digital Media Library running on DSpace to RIT Scholar Works. Physical copy available through RIT's The Wallace Library at: LB1132 .R64 1997

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

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