Browsing by Author "Alves, Diana"
Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- Assessment of math abilities before school entry: a tool developmentPublication . Cruz, Joana; Alves, Diana; Carvalho, Marisa; Mendes, Sofia Abreu; Rodrigues, Bruna; Cadime, IreneThe years preceding school entry are pivotal for children to develop fundamental skills that bolster their learning in literacy and math in the following years. Skills like counting and subitizing stand as key predictors of future math abilities. Hence, the availability of universal screening tools is vital to promptly identify children who are lacking in these skills, allowing for tailored classroom practices to meet their needs. This study aimed to develop a mathematical screening tool and assess its psychometric properties. The tool encompasses both group and individual tasks, with the latter evaluating counting, cardinality, subitizing, quantity discrimination, addition, and subtraction. The tool was administered twice to 257 children, aged 5 to 6, in their final year of kindergarten in Portugal, at both the start and end of the school year. The findings reveal that the tasks generally present a low level of difficulty, especially by the end of kindergarten. Factor analysis demonstrated an adequate structure, and all dimensions showed high internal consistency (>.80). There was a medium-to-high intercorrelation among the various tasks. Correlations between task scores at the beginning and end of the school year were high. Furthermore, scores across all tasks correlated with math achievement in the first grade of primary education. These outcomes suggest that the tool is both valid and reliable, making it a useful resource for assessing and intervening in math skills during the critical years before school entry.
- School psychologists training in applied approaches for the construction of inclusive schools in Portugal: process descriptionPublication . Carvalho, Marisa; Martins, Cristina; Alves, Diana; Marques, Elisabete; Azevedo, Helena; Cruz, Joana; Fonseca, Marisa; Tormenta, Nuna; Cunha, Rosário Serrão; Ramalho, Sofia; Jesus, Teresa
- School psychologists training in Portugal: trainers' perspectivesPublication . Carvalho, Marisa; Martins, Cristina; Alves, Diana; Marques, Elisabete; Azevedo, Helena; Cruz, Joana; Fonseca, Marisa; Tormenta, Nuna; Cunha, Rosário Serrão; Ramalho, Sofia; Jesus, Teresa
- School psychologists’ training to support inclusive education in Portugal: trainers' perspectives of opportunities, challenges, and improvementsPublication . Carvalho, Marisa; Cunha, Rosário Serrão; Azevedo, Helena; Cruz, Joana; Alves, Diana; Martins, Cristina; Marques, Elisabete; Fonseca, Marisa; Tormenta, Nuna; Jesus, Teresa de; Ramalho, SofiaSchool psychologists can support schools in implementing inclusive practices. In Portugal, the Decree-Law 54/2018 has set the country on the path to inclusive education based on whole-school approaches. This policy shift demands a change in school psychologists’ practices to be agents for systems change versus traditional roles (such as assessing and counseling students). An e-learning training course was developed and implemented by nine psychologists through a partnership between the Ministry of Education and the Portuguese Psychology Association, focused on the Multi-tiered Systems of Support framework for constructing inclusive schools. The main aim was to empower school psychologists to support adequate, inclusive, and multi-tiered intervention responses in their schools, resourcing a collaborative and supervised approach. From all Portuguese regions, 327 psychologists participated in the training from October 2020 to April 2021. This article focuses on the trainers’ experiences of training, collected through a focus group, reflecting on the challenges, opportunities, and necessary improvements for future training in school psychologists in Portugal on this topic. Trainers have identified organizational and pedagogical aspects as critical to the training delivery and quality that should be addressed in future training courses for school psychologists.