A Psychometric Analysis of the Early Identification System–Student Report in a Sample of Southwestern U.S. Students

Abstract

The Early Identification System–Student Report (EIS-SR) is a 34-item measure of social-emotional functioning that is designed to be a low-cost universal screening tool. To date, studies of the EIS-SR demonstrate promising psychometric properties, but these properties have not yet been assessed in groups of children from historically underrepresented populations. The current study seeks to help close this gap in the literature by examining the evidence of validity related to the internal structure of the EIS-SR in a sample of Grades 3 through 8 students in the southwestern United States. Analyses indicated mixed findings regarding the model fit of the EIS-SR in the obtained sample, which implies that more data regarding its measurement invariance across diverse populations are needed.

Keywords

rating scales screening/benchmarking social-emotional

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Achenbach

McConaughy

Howell

(1987). Child/adolescent behavioral and emotional problems: Implications of cross-informant correlations for situational specificity. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 213–232. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.101.2.213

American School Counselor Association. (2021). The school counselor and multitiered system of supports. https://www.schoolcounselor.org/Standards-Positions/Position-Statements/ASCA-Position-Statements/The-School-Counselor-and-Multitiered-System-of-Sup

Briesch

A. M.

Chafouleas

S. M.

Chaffee

R. K.

(2018). Analysis of state-level guidance regarding school-based, universal screening for social, emotional, and behavioral risk. School Mental Health, 10, 147–162. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-017-9232-5

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Mental health surveillance among children–United States, 2013–2019. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 71(Suppl. 2), 1–42. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/su/pdfs/su7102a1-H.pdf

De Silva

L. E.

Ponting

Ramos

Cornejo Guevara

M. V.

Chavira

D. A

. (2020). Urban Latinx parents’ attitudes towards mental health: Mental health literacy and service use. Children and Youth Services Review, 109, Article 104719. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.104719

Dineen

J. N.

Chafoulas

S. M.

Briesch

A. M.

McCoach

D. B.

Newton

S. D.

Cintron

D. W.

(2021). Exploring social, emotional, and behavioral screening approaches in U.S. public schools. American Educational Research Journal, 59(1), 146–179. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312211000043

Duong

M. T.

Bruns

E. J.

Lee

Cox

Coifman

Mayworm

Lyon

A. R.

(2021). Rates of mental health service utilization by children and adolescents in schools and other common service settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Administrative Policy in Mental Health, 48(3), 420–439. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-020-01080-9

Friesen

L. J.

(2021). PsychoPDA: Psychometrics & post-data analysis for Jamovi [R Package]. https://github.com/lucasjfriesen/jamoviPsychoPDA

Google for Education. (2022). Google workspace for education terms of service. https://workspace.google.com/terms/education_terms.html?_ga=2.100119390.1554611270.1518373521-1172296852.1493242673

10.

Gordon

(1983). An operational classification of disease prevention. Public Health Reports, 98(2), 107–109. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/65948/cdc_65948_DS1.pdf

11.

Gulliver

Griffiths

K. M.

Christensen

(2010). Perceived barriers and facilitators to mental health help-seeking in young people: A systematic review. BMC Psychiatry, 10, Article 113. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-10-113

12.

Herman

K. C.

Reinke

W. M.

Huang

F. L.

Thompson

A. M.

Doyle-Barker

(2021). An investigation of the psychometric properties of the Early Identification System–Student Report in a middle school sample. School Psychology, 36, 34–46. https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000414

13.

L. T.

Bentler

P. M.

(1995). Evaluating model fit. In Hoyle

R. H.

(Ed.), Structural equation modeling: Issues, concepts, and applications (pp. 76–99). Sage.

14.

Huang

F. L.

Reinke

W. M.

Thompson

Herman

K. C.

(2019). An investigation of the psychometric properties of the Early Identification System–Student Report. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 37(4), 473–485.

15.

The Jamovi Project. (2021). Jamovi (Version 1.6) [Computer software]. https://www.jamovi.org

16.

Kataoka

S. H.

Zhang

Wells

K. B.

(2002). Unmet need for mental health care among U.S. children: Variation by ethnicity and insurance status. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 1548–1555. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.159.9.1548

17.

Kline

R. B.

(2011). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.

18.

Masia-Warner

Nangle

D. W.

Hansen

D. J.

(2006). Bringing evidence-based child mental health services to the schools: General issues and specific populations. Education and Treatment of Children, 29, 165–172. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42899880

19.

McNeish

(2018). Thanks coefficient alpha, we’ll take it from here. Psychological Methods, 23(3), 412–433. https://doi.org/10.1037/met0000144

20.

Merikangas

K. R.

J.-P.

Burstein

Swendsen

Avenevoli

Case

Georgiades

Heaton

Swanson

Olfson

(2011). Service utilization for lifetime mental disorders in U.S. adolescents: Results of the National Comorbidity Survey–Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A). Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 50(1), 32–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2010.10.006

21.

National Association of School Psychologists. (2016). Position statement: Ensuring high-quality, comprehensive, and integrated specialized instructional support services. https://www.nasponline.org/x36850.xml

22.

Planey

A. M.

Smith

S. M.

Moore

Walker

T. D.

(2019). Barriers and facilitators to mental health help-seeking among African American youth and their families: A systematic review study. Children and Youth Services Review, 101, 190–200. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0190740918311204?via%3Dihub

23.

Powell

Dupree

McVey

Frau-Canabal

Patel

Jackson

Williams

Wright

(2022, February 15–18). An interdisciplinary approach to tier I social-emotional service delivery [Poster Presentation]. National Association of School Psychologists, Boston, MA, United States.

24.

R Core Team. (2020). R: A language and environment for statistical computing (Version 4.0) [Computer software]. https://cran.r-project.org.

25.

Reinke

W. M.

Herman

Huang

F. L.

McCall

Holmes

S. R.

Thompson

A. M.

Owens

(2022). Examining the validity of the early identification system student version for screening in an elementary school sample. Journal of School Psychology, 90, 114–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2021.10.001

26.

Revelle

(2019). Psych: Procedures for psychological, psychometric, and personality research [R Package]. Northwestern University. https://cran.r-project.org/package=psych/

27.

Rosseel

(2018). Lavaan: Latent variable analysis [R Package]. https://cran.r-project.org/package=lavaan/

28.

Splett

J. W.

Fowler

Weist

M. D.

McDaniel

Dvorsky

(2013). The critical role of school psychology in the school mental health movement. Psychology in the Schools, 50(3), 245–258. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.21677

29.

Thompson

A. M.

Huang

Smith

Reinke, W. M., Herman, K. C., & The County Schools Mental Health Coalition (2021). Confirmatory factor structure and predictive validity of the early identification system—Student report in a community sample of high school students. School Mental Health, 13, 28–40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-020-09396-5

30.

Ursachi

Horodonic

I. A.

Zait

(2015). How reliable are measurement scales? External factors with indirect influence on reliability estimators. Procedia Economics & Finance, 20, 679–686. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2212-5671(15)00123-9

31.

Vander Stoep

Mccauley

Thompson

K. A.

Herting

J. R.

Kuo

E. S.

Stweart

D. G.

Anderson

C. A.

Kushner

. (2005). Universal emotional health screening at the middle school transition. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Disorders, 13(4), 213–223. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F10634266050130040301

32.

Volpe

R. J.

Briesch

A. M.

Chafouleas

S. M.

(2010). Linking screening for emotional and behavioral problems to problem-solving efforts: An adaptive model of behavioral assessment. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 35, 240–244. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534508410377194