BACKGROUND

-  How was the DTORF Online content developed?​  -
During development of the DTORF-R, the findings of 164 theorists and researchers were extensively reviewed to identify widely recognized constructs of social, emotional, and behavioral competence. Among these were human development experts, among them Erikson, Cole, Gilligan, Kagan, Kohlberg, Lickona, Mahler, Maslow, Piaget, Selman, and Turial. In doing this, four major developmental domains became evident: behavior (DOING), communication (SAYING), socialization (RELATING), and academics/cognition (THINKING). Within these domains, a large pool of indicators of healthy personality development was formed. The descriptors were then organized into sequential developmental pathways for specific ages and stages within each domain from birth to age 16. These characteristics were defined further in observable operational terms and sequenced into four subscales of increasing item difficulty. Finally, to verify that every item had validity for the four subscale constructs, each item was referenced directly to the original domain analyses.
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​DTORF Online is a proven classroom tool for in-depth assessment of student performance that targets social-emotional competence and behavioral development of students from Early Childhood through Secondary.

-  What does research show about the effectiveness of DTORF online?  -
The DTORF-R (paper-based version of DTORF Online) has been used over four decades in field research to document program effectiveness for students with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD), with support from the U. S. Department of Education and the University of Georgia in collaboration with numerous public school and clinical programs. In repeated studies, children and young teens with EBD made significant gains in DTORF-R social-emotional-behavioral competencies in a single school year. These gains were achieved by students with varying types and severity of disabilities, multiracial and ethnic backgrounds, in low and middle socioeconomic levels, and in urban and rural locations in the U.S. and internationally. Similar results were found in DTORF-R gains for intensive intervention (students in restrictive special education classes), targeted intervention (transitioning to special education resource classes) and for inclusion in general education, thereby providing program continuity across multi-tier levels of services.

Evidence submitted to the American Psychiatric Association and to the National Institute of Education Program Effectiveness Panel for peer review resulted in four separate designations as "a program that works." These studies also found evidence of high inter-rater reliability and content validity for the instrument, providing added confidence in its psychometric properties:

• Items occur in statistically calibrated difficulty sequences that facilitate sequential learning.
• Items represent universal multicultural standards for social, emotional, and behavioral competencies identified from research and theory about essentials needed by all children in each age group, birth to teens.
• The instrument has acceptable levels for reliability and validity when used by trained teachers. Kuder-Richardson type reliability estimates occurred above .99 on each subscale. Studies of interrater agreement reported .95 for total scores and .93, .94, .94, and .96 for each subscale.
• Repeated ratings provide multiple data points for longitudinal growth analyses.
• Raw scores (sum of items mastered across the four domains) can be converted to developmental age scores or to T-values (M = 50, SD = 10) with an assumption of inter-correlation (r = .30) among domain subscales.
• Ratings can also be summed by domain for analysis of inter-domain variability.
• A detailed content item analysis of targeted developmental processes is available in the User's Manual.

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For detailed reports:  

• Cox A. A. (2013) Review of the Developmental Teaching Objectives and Rating Form-Revised, 5th edition. In Tests in Print, The Mental Measurements Yearbook. Buros Center for Testing, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, NE
• Wood, M., Quirk, C., & Swindle, F. (2007), Teaching Responsible Behavior (Chapter 9). Austin, TX: PRO.ED.
• Wood, M. Davis, K., & Swindle F, (1998). Documenting Effectiveness. Developmental Therapy Institute, Athens, GA.