The study presents the factorial validity, using graphic organizers, controlling the process of the version of the questionnaire on reading strategies, «Tell me How to Read», aimed at the students of upper secondary school and university students. The dimensions investigated correspond to the 7 strategies already tested in the previous versions (lower secondary and primary school, Castellana, 2018, 2020a): identifying reading purposes, activating previous knowledge, making predictions, selecting main information, using graphic organizers and a scale on the self-perception of the difficulties. The new questionnaire consisting of 82 items, was linguistically revised and items that investigate more complex levels of the reading process were added. It was administered to a convenience sample of 543 students, attending the fourth and fifth grades of upper secondary school and Ist-IIIrd year students of the Sapienza University of Rome and Parma. The factor analysis of the questionnaire confirmed the 7 dimensional structure. The questionnaire reduced to 53 items was used within the OFA Italian course of the Department of Psychology at Sapienza University, as an instrument for metacognitive self-assessment of reading and as support for teaching understanding. The scores obtained by the students (99) on the QSL were correlated with the scores of the final test of the course. The value of correlation found between the tests and questionnaire is significant and equal to .377.

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The study presents the factorial validity of the version of the questionnaire on reading strategies, «Tell me how to read», aimed at the students of upper-secondary schools. The dimensions investigated correspond to the 7 strategies already validated in the previous versions (lower secondary and primary school, pilot study; Castellana, 2018, 2020a; Castellana & Lucisano, 2021): Identifying reading purposes; Activating previous knowledge; Making predictions; Identifying the most important information; Using graphic organizers; Controlling, Monitoring and a scale on the perception of difficulty. The questionnaire consisting of 57 items, was administered to a convenience sample of 1527 students, attending upper-secondary school. Results of the factor analysis confirm the seven-dimensional structure while Cronbach’s alpha ranges from .836 to .925, with the total reliability coefficient of .933. Furthermore, data analyses reveal strengths and weaknesses of the readers in terms of the strategies they employ and suggest areas and paths for improvement of their reading skills, stressing once again the importance of tools aimed at measuring the use of metacognitive strategies.

Resilience and socio-emotional skills play a central role in promoting individual’s general and academic well-being and supporting a positive adaptation to the context. The school can play a strategic role in the evaluation of these aspects. The Questionnaire for the Assessment of Resilient Attitude at school (QVAR), derived from the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment, was developed for the assessment of resilience and socioemotional skills in lower secondary school students. The questionnaire recalls the perspective of strength-based assessment, focusing on the individuals’ resources. The purpose of this contribution is to offer an overview of the theoretical framework on the relevance of resilience and socio-emotional skills and to present the procedure for constructing, adapting and validating the QVAR. The sample of schools that participated in the validation of the QVAR belongs entirely to the three-year period of lower secondary school and is distributed throughout the country. The classes participating in the survey were 88 for a total of 1401 students, consisting of 698 female students and 703 students. The statistical analyzes conducted confirm the good psychometric properties of the Resilient Attitude Assessment Questionnaire (QVAR): this will allow the application to plan and monitor interventions to improve the student’s coping skills.

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