The convergent validity of office discipline referrals with the CBCL-TRF

Office discipline referrals are one approach that educators could use (a) as a guide in the development and/or selection of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention programs; (b) as an outcome measure with which to assess the effectiveness of those programs; and (c) as an early screening procedure to identify children who might benefit from the secondary and tertiary programs. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which children who met the borderline and clinical cut-off scores on the Teacher Report Form (TRF; Achenbach, 1991b) received one or more office discipline referrals (the most liberal criteria possible) to determine the levels of false negatives (failure to detect a problem when one exists) that would occur if one used office discipline referrals as an early screening device.The relatively high levels of false negatives suggest that the use of office discipline referrals as an early screening device may fail to identify relatively large numbers of young children in need of interventions and supports. This issue appears to be even more pronounced in the case of students who are experiencing internalizing-related problems. Results, limitations, and future research needs are discussed.