A Comparison of Teachers' and School Psychologists' Perceptions of the Cognitive Abilities Underlying Basic Academic Tasks

Abstract

The Cattell-Horn-Carroll Theory of cognitive functioning is a well-validated framework for intelligence. Cross-battery assessment is a means utilizing CHC theory in practice. School psychologists write recommendations with the assumption that teachers understand the cognitive abilities underlying basic academic tasks in the same way. Theoretically, the more similar the understanding of these two groups, the greater the likelihood of appropriate referrals and intervention fidelity. Teacher perceptions of their students' cognitive abilities impact the referrals that they make and intervention strategies that they implement. In this study, teachers and school psychologists were asked to sort basic academic tasks into the CHC broad abilities. The central research questions being asked are as follows: Are school psychologists and teachers equally proficient at identifying the broad cognitive ability demands of a basic academic task? How do the responses of the participants compare to the theoretical model presented? Do teachers and school psychologists become better at identifying the cognitive demands of a task with experience or higher levels of training? In order to answer the first research question, MANOVAs were performed. There was a significant overall difference between groups on their responses. While teachers and school psychologists differed significantly on five of the eight CHC broad ability scales. School psychologists were only significantly better at consistently identifying the basic academic tasks that utilized Fluid Reasoning. To answer the second research question, principal components factor analysis was performed. The factors created displayed limited similarity to the theoretical factors. Pearson correlations between the theoretical factors and the factors created through factor analysis revealed multiple positive correlations that accounted for more than 10% of the variance. The theoretical scales that were more significantly correlated were Fluid Reasoning, Auditory Processing, and Processing Speed. To answer the third research question, Pearson correlations were calculated. This analysis revealed that neither group develops a better understanding of the cognitive abilities required to perform academic tasks with experience. Level of education is not related to accuracy for teachers on any of the items. Level of education is significantly correlated with accuracy in identifying tasks that require Visual Processing for school psychologists.