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72 Bringing Neuropsychology to the Community: Adaptation of a Rey Osterreith Complex Figure Scoring System for Use in Large-Scale Community-Based Clinical Trials
- Rebecca Handsman, Alyssa Verbalis, Alexis Khuu, Andrea Lopez, Lucy S McClellan, Cara E Pugliese, Lauren Kenworthy
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- Journal:
- Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society / Volume 29 / Issue s1 / November 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 21 December 2023, pp. 747-748
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Objective:
The Rey Osterreith Complex Figure (ROCF) is a neuropsychological task used to measure visual-motor integration, visual memory, and executive functioning (EF) in autistic youth. The ROCF is a valued clinical tool because it provides an insight into the way an individual approaches and organizes complex visual stimuli. The constructs measured by the ROCF such as planning, organization, and working memory are highly relevant for research in, but the standardized procedures for scoring the ROCF can be challenging to implement in large scale clinical trials due to complex and lengthy scoring rubrics. We present preliminary data on an adaptation to an existing scoring system that provides quantifiable scores, can be implemented with reliability, and reduces scoring time.
Participants and Methods:Data was taken from two large-scale clinical trials focusing on EF in autistic youth. All participants completed the ROCF following standard administration guidelines. The research team reviewed commonly used scoring systems and determined that the Boston Qualitative Scoring System (BQSS) was the best fit due to its strengths in measuring EF, the process-related variables generated, and the available normative data. Initially, the BQSS full scoring system was used, which resulted in comprehensive scores but was not feasible due to the time required (approximately 1-1.5 hours per figure for research assistants to complete scoring). Then, the BQSS short form was used, which was successful at solving the timing problem, but resulted in greater subjectivity in the scores impacting the team’s ability to become reliable. Independent reliability could not be calculated for this version because of the large number of discrepancies among scorers which included 2 neuropsychologists and 4 research assistants. A novel checklist was then developed that combined aspects of both scoring systems to help promote objectivity and reliability. In combination with this checklist the team created weekly check in meetings where challenging figures could be brought to discuss. Independent reliability was calculated amongst all research assistant team members (n=4) for the short form and novel checklist. Reliability was calculated based on (1) if the drawing qualified for being brought to the whole team and (2) individual scores on the checklist.
Results:Independent reliability was calculated for 10 figures scored utilizing the novel checklist by a team of 4 trained research assistants. All scorers were able to achieve 80% reliability with a high average (80-86%). Study team members reported that scoring took less time taking on average 30-45 minutes per figure.
Conclusions:Inter-rater reliability was strong on the checklist the study team created, indicating its potential as a useful adaptation to the BQSS scoring system that reduces time demands, making the tool feasible for use in large-scale clinical research studies with initially positive reliability factors. The checklist was easy to use, required little training and could be completed quickly. Future research should continue to examine the reliability of the checklist and the time it takes to complete. Additionally, the ROCF should be studied more broadly in research and examined as a potential outcome measure for large scale research studies.
Policy Dialogue: Racial Segregation in America's Schools
- Cara McClellan, Matthew Delmont
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- Journal:
- History of Education Quarterly / Volume 63 / Issue 1 / February 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 01 February 2023, pp. 126-137
- Print publication:
- February 2023
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America's schools are more segregated today than they were three decades ago. After initial progress in the wake of the Supreme Court's 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education—further bolstered by the 1964 Civil Rights Act, as well as by several other rulings by the court—the nation's schools began a process of resegregation in the early 1990s. White resistance, reversals by the court, and growing residential segregation have ensured that many young people attend school with classmates from similar racial and class backgrounds. As a recent report from the UCLA's Civil Rights Project found, the average White student attends a school in which 69 percent of students are White, the average Latinx student attends a school in which 55 percent of students are Latinx, and the average Black student attends a school in which 47 percent of students are Black. Segregation is a fact of life in both the North and the South, in urban and rural communities, in red states and in blue states.
For this Policy Dialogue, HEQ's editors asked Cara McClellan and Matthew Delmont to discuss the segregation of K-12 schools by race. How, we wanted to know, has the past shaped the present and constrained the future? How are present-day efforts responding to that past and challenging the structures and cultures that reinforce racial segregation? What might the future hold? Cara McClellan is director of the Advocacy for Racial and Civil Justice Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania's Carey Law School, where she is also an associate professor of practice. Prior to this role, she served as assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, where she represented students and families in cases such as Sheff v. O'Neill. Matthew Delmont is the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of History at Dartmouth College. His work focuses on African American history and the history of civil rights, and he is the author of several books including Why Busing Failed: Race, Media, and the National Resistance to School Desegregation and, most recently, Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad.
HEQ Policy Dialogues are, by design, intended to promote an informal, free exchange of ideas between scholars. At the end of the exchange, we offer a list of references for readers who wish to follow up on sources relevant to the discussion.