SMALSI

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SMALSI

• School Motivation and Learning Strategies
  Inventoryby Kathy Chatham Stroud, Ph.D., and
  Cecil R. Reynolds, Ph.D.

The SMALSI may be purchased from WPS. Please
contact us at 800-648-8857, Fax [phone], or
www.wpspublish.com.
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Help solve the problems of general
education before they become the problems
of special education.
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What is the SMALSI?

• School Motivation and Learning Strategies
  Inventory
• Standardized self-report inventory for ages 8
  years to 18 years in 2 forms
• Child form Ages 8-12
• Teen form Ages 13-18
• Designed to assess multiple constructs related to
  Learning Strategies, Academic Motivation,
  Test-taking Strategies, and Test Anxiety
• May be administered individually or in groups,
  large or small
• Completed in 20-30 minutes by most students
  reading at grade level 3.5 or higher (may be read
  to others)
• Yields a profile of T-scores (M 50, SD 10)
  from which strengths and weaknesses in specific
  areas can be determined and targeted for teaching
  if necessary
• Unlimited-use of Computer-scoring or Hand-scoring
  available

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The Number One Goal of SMALSI Use?
To assist us in making more children, more
effective strategic learners who can demonstrate
their knowledge and skills accurately
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Benefits of Using the SMALSI
The SMALSI provides a quick, cost- effective way
to identify and target poor learning strategies
that affect academic performance.
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Benefits of Using the SMALSI
Students who engage in strategic learning and
test-taking perform at higher academic levels
than those who do not. If you improve the study
skills, learning strategies, reading
comprehension and test-taking behavior of
students, their academic achievement will also
improve. This is true at all grade levels, with
both regular and special education students.
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Benefits of Using the SMALSI
Until now, there has been no comprehensive
instrument that measures these skills and
strategies. The SMALSI fills this void.
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Who Can Use the SMALSI?

• School and related psychologists (e.g.,
  child-clinical, pediatric)
• School counselors and LPCs
• Educational Diagnosticians
• Learning Disability Specialists and Special
  Education Teachers with assessment training
• Regular Education Teachers with a course in
  classroom assessment or tests and measurement
• To use the SMALSI appropriately, the user
  should have a background in education and
  learning along with training in assessment or
  tests and measurement.

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SMALSI Student Strengths Subscales
Definition
Scale

• Selecting important information, relating, new to
  previously learned information, and memory
  strategies for encoding.
• Discriminating important material when taking
  notes, organizing notes, efficiency in
  note-taking.
• Previewing, monitoring, and reviewing texts,
  including self-testing to ensure understanding.
• Researching topics in a variety of ways,
  organizing writing projects as well as monitoring
  and self-checking for errors.

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SMALSI Student Strengths Subscales (continued)
Definition
Scale

• Increasing efficiency in test-taking, including
  eliminating unlikely answers and strategic
  guessing.
• Organizing class and study materials, structuring
  assignments including homework and other
  projects.
• Effective use of time to complete assignments,
  understanding of time needed for academic
  tasks.

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SMALSI Student Liabilities Subscales
Scale
Definition

• Level of intrinsic motivation to engage and
  succeed in academic tasks.
• Students experience of debilitating symptoms of
  test anxiety, lower performance on tests due to
  excessive worry.
• Attending to lectures and other academic tasks,
  monitoring and adjusting attention to
  performance, concentrating and the avoidance of
  distractions.

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Applications of the SMALSI

• Screening in regular education
• Identifying group weaknesses in a classroom or
  school
• Identifying individuals with a lack of or poor
  developed strategies for learning
• Pre-referral intervention/prevention
• Assessing students with Disabilities
• Learning Disabilities
• Emotional Disturbance
• ADHD
• TBI

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• The SMALSI targets primary constructs
  well-established in educational psychology and
  the general education literature.
• In research spanning 3 decades, these constructs
  have been linked to academic and educational
  success.
• After the SMALSI has identified deficiencies in
  these areas, remediation can begin.

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We offer workshops that suggest specific
remediation techniques for each construct
measured by the SMALSI.