A Method for Universal Screening of Elementary School Students: Development of the Social Challenges Screening Questionnaire

Schools regularly screen students for hearing and vision impairments because they present impediments to academic progress. For the same reason, schools should consider adding a universal screening for social challenges, which may also impede the learning process. This study reports on the development of the Social Challenges Screening Questionnaire (SCSQ), an efficient teacher-report screening questionnaire that identifies students with challenges who may benefit from a psychological evaluation. Further, the questionnaire may help identify students with Autism Spectrum Disorder who were previously undiagnosed. The SCSQ was administered to 549 general education students in the third and fourth grades. Internal consistency was.85. A smaller sample of students (n = 50) was selected for additional follow up assessment using the Social Responsiveness Questionnaire, Second Edition. Scores on the two instruments were strongly correlated (r =.87, p <.01), and sensitivity (.94) and specificity (.88) indicate the SCSQ can efficiently detect students with social challenges in need of a formal evaluation.     

Racial Athletic Stereotype Confirmation in College Football Recruiting

The present study tested real-world racial stereotype use in the context of college athletic recruiting. Stereotype confirmation suggests that observers use stereotypes as hypotheses and interpret relevant evidence in a biased way that confirms their stereotypes. Shifting standards suggest that the evaluative standard to which we hold a target changes as a function of their group membership. We examined whether stereotype confirmation and shifting standards effects would be seen in college football coaches during recruiting. College football coaches evaluated a Black or White player on several attributes and made both zero- and non-zero-sum allocations. Results suggested that coaches used the evidence presented to develop biased subjective evaluations of the players based on race while still maintaining equivalent objective evaluations. Coaches also allocated greater overall resources to the Black recruit than the White recruit.     

Community-Based Arts Initiatives: Exploring the Science of the Arts

In this introduction to the special issue, we describe some of the rewards and challenges of community‐based arts initiatives for our discipline. We explore the inherent tensions between art and science that are reflected in community‐based arts activities. We pose larger questions about researching community‐based arts activities and defining the arts as a means of promoting social change. The diversity of populations, settings, and issues represented by the papers in the special issue are described and a common set of values, methods of inquiry and action are discussed.