Assessing Quality of Program Environments for Children and Youth with Autism: Autism Program Environment Rating Scale...

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Special Education
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Quality assessment is crucial for effective educational programs for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
• Existing instruments may not fully capture the nuances of specialized autism program environments.
• The Autism Program Environment Rating Scale (APERS) was developed to address this need.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Autism Program Environment Rating Scale (APERS).
• To determine the reliability and validity of APERS for assessing program quality in ASD services.
• To confirm APERS' alignment with its conceptual model.

Main Methods:

• Utilized two independent data sets from public school programs serving students with ASD.
• Conducted Cronbach alpha analyses to assess internal consistency.
• Performed factor analysis to examine construct validity and factor structure.

Main Results:

• APERS demonstrated high internal consistency for the total scale and moderate levels for domains across both data sets.
• Factor analysis confirmed a single-factor structure aligning with the conceptual model in both samples.
• APERS proved sensitive to improvements in program quality following professional development.

Conclusions:

• The Autism Program Environment Rating Scale (APERS) exhibits robust psychometric properties, including reliability and validity.
• APERS is a suitable instrument for evaluating the quality of educational environments for students with autism spectrum disorder.
• The scale can effectively track changes in program quality, supporting targeted professional development initiatives.