The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all children should receive regularly scheduled developmental screenings (2001). The earlier a developmental concern is addressed, the better the child’s developmental trajectory. Thus, successful developmental screenings combined with early intervention will significantly improve a child’s developmental trajectory. The Child Development Institute (CDI) in Canoga Park, California has spearheaded the effort to provide pediatricians and early care and education (ECE) professionals with training in the recommended standardized screening tools for many years (Maltese, Aguayo & Chavez, 2011). This thesis project evaluates CDI’s Developmental Screening Certificate Program (DSCP) for ECE professionals. The DCSP provides ECE professionals in-service training while supporting community-based screening at CDI’s Early Learning Center (ELC). The research analyzed demonstrates the significance of implementing universal developmental screenings before children enter school, parents’ perceptions of screening, and the importance of helping families navigate the referral systems with follow-up. Seven professionals in the ECE field evaluated the DSCP training, and this thesis viii explores those comments and establishes the benefits of the DCSP with suggestions for future work.

Strengthen your community's screening and early detection system with this integrated, low-cost, adaptable approach--your big-picture plan for catching delays and connecting young children with the services and supports they need.

Test Development: Fundamentals for Certification and Evaluation provides practical guidelines for the classical approach to test development – specifically for certification and credentialing. Most of the existing high-quality books on the topic of criterion-referenced test (CRT) development are written for professional statisticians and psychometricians. And the books written for the general reader tend to lack accurate, user-friendly coverage of some of the most critical topics. This book serves as an accessible resource on test development that does not require any technical background or expertise. Part I, Conceptual Principles, covers the process of CRT development in narrative form. Some of the topics covered include: defining content domain as related to job analysis and assessment objectives item writing and scoring understanding validity and reliability conducting item analysis defining and differentiating the major standard setting method preparing for and understanding issues with test administration. Part II, the Technical Appendix, contains the computational instructions and supplementary background material. This do-it-yourself manual is a valuable resource for training program developers, credential program developers, as well as other relevant human resources personnel and upper management who need to be on board for change management related to testing programs.