This study examined the new self-report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ-S), SDQ-Kids, in primary school children regarding internal consistency, teacher-child agreement, and validity. Data from 2,655 children in Grades 1 to 3 and their teachers were analyzed. Children completed SDQ-Kids, previously piloted (n = 896),…

The current study sought to investigate the agreement between teachers and parents about the mental health of first-grade students, the factors that affected this agreement and the associations between measures completed by students, parents and teachers. The investigation used baseline data collected during the PAX Good Behavior Game (PAX GBG)…

The Pediatric Symptom Checklist-17 was originally used in primary care settings with parents to identify their children's behavioral and emotional problems, but there has been some research supporting use of this scale in school settings. This study examined: (a) the factor structure and measurement invariance of the teacher-rated Pediatric…

Preschool has been recognized as an optimal time to provide behavioral and emotional supports to children; however, there is a need to examine the stability, accuracy, and predictive validity of universal emotional and behavioral screening scores in early childhood to inform procedures for repeated screenings across time. The present study…

Research has consistently shown that difficulties in facial emotion recognition (FER) are associated with peer problems and internalizing symptoms during middle childhood. However, no longitudinal research has investigated the direction of effects, that is, how these constructs influence each other across time. In this preregistered three-wave…

The objective of this study was to assess the measurement invariance of items from the Emotional and Behavioral Screener (EBS) across racial and ethnic groups and assess the impact of differential item functioning (DIF) on test scores from the EBS. Participants were 4,856 first-grade students (49% female) who were diverse with regard to race and…

Difficulties in reading and math are more likely to occur simultaneously than difficulties in either area alone; however, the research on that comorbidity is relatively sparse. The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between early reading skills as predictors of math achievement. A group of 102 kindergarten and 65 first-grade…

Many students who exhibit behavioral and emotional problems during adolescence often show less severe problems in school in early grades. Screening for these early indicators can help educational professionals direct support to students who are more likely to benefit from increased support. The screening protocol needs to be psychometrically…

The success of universal screening for effective school mental health programs is dependent on the availability of usable measures as well as empirically based recommendations for use. The current study examined the long-term stability of a strengths-based social-emotional screening tool, the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment-Mini…

This study examined the impact of a commonly adopted elementary universal social-emotional learning program, Second Step, on student social-emotional and academic outcomes following 2 years of implementation. The cluster-randomized wait-list control trial included 61 schools, 321 teachers, and 8,941 early elementary students across 2 states, with…

Students with challenging behavior spend substantial amounts of time away from instruction due to behavioral problems. Time away from instruction reduces their opportunities for learning, which are critical as these students typically demonstrate academic performance below their same-age peers. After removal from instruction due to behavioral…

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of a brief and feasible universal screener for kindergarten readiness for predicting follow-up outcomes in first grade. Participants included kindergarten and first-grade teachers and students from 6 urban elementary schools. Students included slightly more males than females (54%;…

The purpose of this study is: (1) to investigate the underlying latent structure and cut-off scores of a teacher-rated screening form (PSC-17) for use in early elementary schools. Participants were 522 children from Grades One and Two. Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling was suggested to identify the optimal factor solution. Results indicated…

This paper investigates the power of the computer guided clinical interview (CI) and new curriculum based measurement (CBM) measures to identify and help children at risk of low mathematics achievement. We use data from large numbers of children in Kindergarten through Grade 3 to investigate the construct validity of CBM risk categories. The basic…

Executive functions (EF) can be promoted by classroom interventions. Our study investigated whether (a) an intervention conducted by teachers improves EF in children; (b) there are effects on behaviour and academic achievement; and (c) there are stable benefits in a one-year follow-up. Fifty-eight first-graders, divided into experimental (EG = 28)…