The Role of Assessment in a Prevention Science Framework

Abstract

The articles in this Special Topic issue present a range of assessment models and challenges for improving the identification and early intervention of students in need of additional supports. Although each article targets a unique aspect of student learning (learning behaviors, math skills, reading comprehension, behavioral functioning, and ratings of engaged and disruptive behavior), collectively they highlight the importance of assessment practices in effective problem solving. In our commentary, we use prevention science as a framework for considering the contributions of the articles in this special topic with a particular focus on the role of assessment. A recent report from the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine (2009) attributed much of the progress in advancing knowledge about prevention of emotional and behavior problems over the past 2 decades to the relatively young field of prevention science. As an interdisciplinary field, prevention science provides a step-by-step model for solving public health problems, including educational underachievement. Specifically, prevention science is a systematic method for identifying, monitoring, and altering meaningful targets that have been demonstrated to be associated with critical youth outcomes. Accurate and efficient assessment tools are essential at each step of the prevention science research cycle. Core Elements of Prevention Science In their seminal article, Kellam, Koretz, and Moscicki (1999) traced the development of prevention science to the integration of three related fields: epidemiology, life course development, and intervention trials technology. Epidemiology is the foundation for prevention science. It refers to the study of the distribution of disease or health-related behaviors/events and is a core element of any public health approach, like prevention science. The purpose of epidemiology is to provide real-time data about health events so as to identify intervention targets and inform intervention policies and practices. Within the field of epidemiology, surveillance is the strategy for continuous, systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of health-related processes over time to guide planning, implementation, and evaluation of practices (World Health Organization, 2012). Surveillance practices can help identify emerging public health crises, determine the effect of public health interventions, and provide ongoing information about population health. In the following, we discuss epidemiology and surveillance, life course development, and intervention trial technology as the bases for prevention science. Epidemiology and Surveillance Public health officials use surveillance data to monitor the prevalence and incidence of diseases across world populations. Surveillance is most widely understood as an element of public health approaches to somatic disease prevention. For instance, the general public may be aware that public health officials have ongoing surveillance systems for tracking infectious diseases such as the flu. These systems allow officials to monitor outbreaks, identity causes, and prevent the spread of diseases, but they can also be applied to select appropriate response strategies and then monitor the effects of interventions. Surveillance methods have been extended to include public health approaches to preventing emotional and behavior problems. For instance, surveillance systems have been established for monitoring the prevalence and incidence of crimes, substance abuse, and mental disorders (Biglan, Mrazek, Carnine, & Flay, 2003). Although behavioral surveillance systems have tended to lag behind systems for more traditional somatic diseases, emerging technology has led to exciting advances in many of these systems (Biglan et al., 2003; Wagner, Whitehill, Vernick, & Parker, 2012). For instance, community-level violence prevention scientists now are able to use real-time crime reports to assess both the need for intervention and the effect of tried interventions (Wagner et al. …