U.S. ED’s OSHS’ SAFE AND SUPPORTIVE TA CENTER ANNOUNCES A WEBINAR ON EVALUATING THE RELIABILITY OF SURVEYS AND OTHER ASSESSMENTS, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25,  2011, 4:00 P.M. – 5:30 P.M., EDT AND WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2011, 11:00 A.M. – 12:30 P.M., EDT

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Healthy Students’ Safe and Supportive Schools (S3) Technical Assistance Center announces a webinar in its series of School Climate Survey Webinars.

Title: Evaluating the Reliability of Surveys and Other Assessments

This Webinar will be offered twice to accommodate schedules. 

Session 1: Tuesday, October 25, 2011, 4:00 pm − 5:30 pm Eastern Time
Session 2: Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 11:00 am − 12:30 pm Eastern Time

Please register for one of the sessions at http://safesupportiveschools.ed.gov/index.php?id=9&eid=1304.  Those who successfully register will receive an e-mail confirmation. And information on how to connect to each Webinar will be sent to those who register shortly before the event.  

During this Webinar, Dr. Lorin Mueller, Principal Research Scientist at the American Institutes for Research, will focus on evaluating the reliability of surveys and other assessments. Specifically, he will address the following:

• The purposes of conducting reliability analyses;
• The three major facets of reliability;
• Common methods for evaluating reliability for different data types;
• Methods for evaluating reliability for non-continuous or mixed data;
• Methods for handling unreliable responses; and
• Methods for improving reliability.

Audience: This Webinar is most appropriate for S3 grantees and district/school personnel who are responsible for or supervising the analysis of data from surveys, achievement databases, or evaluation data, or those who seek a better understanding of the information they see in technical reports.

For more information, please email sssta@air.org.

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With help from families, providers, and the community, young children can demonstrate resilience when dealing with trauma. Learn more about the impact of trauma on childhood development and pass the information on to observe National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day.
To learn more visit: http://www.samhsa.gov/children

About May 3, 2011, Awareness Day
National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day is a day to join SAMHSA, communities, organizations, agencies, and individuals nationwide in raising awareness that positive mental health is essential to a child's healthy development from birth. This year, the national theme will focus on building resilience in young children dealing with trauma. For the complete picture, please visit: http://www.samhsa.gov/children/national.aspx .

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools is pleased to announce the launch of the Safe and Supportive Schools Website: http://safesupportiveschools.ed.gov. 

The Safe and Supportive Schools Website represents another step the OSDFS is taking to provide the technical assistance and expertise to keep our students safe.  From this Website, state, district and school administrators; teachers; school support staff; and communities and families can find resources and support to develop rigorous measurement systems that assess school climate and implement and evaluate programmatic interventions. In particular, on the Website one can:

• Find out how to get help from the Safe and Supportive Schools TA Center (Center);
• Register for upcoming Center events that feature experts from the field, including Webinars;
• Find high quality products, tools and research by role and topic on the home page’s springboard;
• Refer to the School Climate Survey Compendium of OSDFS-approved surveys;
• Learn about other states and what they are doing to measure and improve school climate;
• Read the latest news on school climate issues.

You are welcome to explore and discover, ask questions, and share your perspective.

The Safe and Supportive Schools TA Center is operated for U.S. ED’s OSDFS by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) in collaboration with Child Trends; The Search Institute; Vision Training Associates; Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning; and Decision Information Resources, Inc.

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