DESSA-mini (Devereaux Student Strengths Assesment-mini)

Developer: LeBuffe, Shapiro, & Naglieri | Year: 2014.0

Overview

DESSA-mini is a brief version of the DESSA intended to serve as a universal screener of social and emotional competencies.

Key Details

Grade Level

K-8

Assessment Type

Universal

Domains Assessed

Executive Functioning Externalizing Behaviors Social Skills Teacher Relationships

Respondent

Educator

Method

Digital Paper/Pencil

Cost

Fee for Service

Time per Student

1 min

Items

8.0

Item Format

Likert

Approach

Dual Factor

Populations

A nationally representative sample of 1,250 students in grades K-8 in the U.S. (Naglieri et al., 2011). 12,000 students in grades K-8 in a large urban school district (Shapiro et al., 2016).

Scoring

Overall Scores

Social-Emotional Total

Subscale Scores

None

Scoring Procedures

Manual;
Online Scoring

Interpretive Information

T-Scores; Percentile Ranks; Pre- Post- Test Comparisons and Rater Comparisons

Psychometric Properties

Reliability

Median Internal consistency estimates for all four forms of the DESSA-mini were approximately 0.92. DESSA-mini and DESSA showed classification consistency—between 94.8% and 96.5% of the time. DESSA-mini and DESSA yielded the same classification for a given student (identifying whether a child does or does not need social-emotional instruction) (Naglieri et al., 2011).

Validity

Content-related validity evidence was gathered through literature reviews (LeBuffe et al., 2009).
Four equated forms were derived from the 72-item DESSA (Naglieri et al., 2011).
Very small mean differences between the overall scores calculated based on DESSA-mini and DESSA (Naglieri et al., 2011; Shapiro et al, 2016). DESSA-mini scores predicted the likelihood of a student having a disciplinary infraction during the school year (Shapiro et al., 2016).

References

Primary Citation

Naglieri, J. A., LeBuffe, P. A., & Shapiro, V. B. (2011/2014). Devereux Student Strengths Assessment Mini (DESSA-Mini). Aperture Education.

Related Measures
DESSA

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