Assessing Children’s Social Functioning and Reading Proficiency: A Systematic Review of the Quality of Educational Assessment Instruments Used in Norwegian Elementary Schools

Abstract

Social functioning and reading proficiency are critical for success in school and society. Therefore, identifying children with such problems is important. This study had 2 parts: first, a random sample of 234 elementary schools was surveyed about which instruments they use to assess reading proficiency and social functioning. Second, a systematic review of the quality of these instruments was conducted using international standards for examining the quality of assessment instruments. The survey showed that schools more often assessed and had more instruments available for reading than for social functioning. The systematic review of the assessment instruments used revealed that the psychometric qualities of many was weak or undocumented, while the dimensions of test material quality were generally good. The findings demonstrate a need for a more thorough examination of the psychometric properties of assessment instruments to be used in school. ARTICLE HISTORYReceived 9 February 2017 Accepted 15 November 2017 KEYWORDS Social functioning; reading proficiency; systematic review; educational assessment; psychometric quality Everyday decisions that impact children's social and academic development are based on information derived from a variety of educational assessments conducted in schools. Such decisions can influence children's curricula and whether a child receives additional support to prevent and ameliorate difficulties or receives a referral to educational psychology services for further diagnostics and special education. Thus, assessments are important for instructional decisions that may have a great impact on children's learning and wellbeing.It is reported that 15-20% of Norwegian children in Grades 1 to 10 are facing social emotional (i.e., anxiety, conduct disorders, depression) and/or academic (i.e., reading, math) difficulties that impact their academic success (Kunnskapsdepartementet [The Norwegian Ministry of Education], 2009, 2017). Moreover, 20% of children have a special requirement for more intensive support than their peers to succeed socially and/or academically (Kunnskapsdepartementet [The Norwegian Ministry of Education], 2017). Because social functioning and reading proficiency are strongly related to future life outcomes for students at risk, promoting such skills is crucial (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011;Gustafsson et al., 2010;OECD, 2015).Compared with the USA and the UK, Norway began using systematic assessments in schools relatively recently. Additionally, Norway, like many other European countries, faces a disadvantage in regard to the development of educational assessment instruments because it has a small population © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduc...

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