Temperament as a Factor in the Assessment of Children Educationally At Risk

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the influence and utility of information about children's temperament in the processes of assessment of educational risk and the implementation of intervention approaches. A sample of 54 risk students and 54 matched students were examined at three levels of assessment of decision making— identification, classification, and instruction (within the classroom). Results from a series of discriminant analysis procedures reveal that the temperament information had little or no utility with respect to the administrative decisions concerning identification and classification. Multiple regression analyses documented significant relationships between the temperament factors and teachers' classroom monitoring decisions. Temperament information is most useful in terms of guiding adaptive instruction at the instructional level. Implications for teacher training in order to maintain risk students within the mainstream are discussed.