Theodore J. Christ
Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Christ is an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies for Educational Psychology within the College of Education and Human Development. Dr. Christ is a member of the School Psychology Track and is Co-Director for the Research Institute for (school-based) Problem Solving.
Dr. Christ is interested in highly efficient and useful assessments that guide instruction and intervention; especially those that are computer/technology-based. He is engaged in research and development to (a) promote, improve, and evaluate of school-based problem solving practices and data-based decision-making. As such he is engaged in research and development of assessment procedures and instrumentation. His aim is to promote and improve what is often described as a Response to Intervention model of service delivery.
Dr. Christ has published research on the development, quality and use of Curriculum Based Measurement (CBM), Direct Behavior Ratings (DBR) and progress monitoring. He is engaged in federally funded research to develop and evaluate assessment systems including CBM, DBR and Computer-Based Assessment System for Reading (C-BAS-R) and Math (C-BAS-M).
Applicants to the School Psychology Program
Dr. Christ is interested to identify PhD level advisees with similar interests; and especially those who might major in School Psychology and minor in either statistics or measurement/psychometrics.
Service to the Profession
Dr. Christ provides consultation and training to companies and school districts. Common topics include problem solving, response to intervention, assessment for instruction, curriculum based measurement, assessment of school/classroom behavior, and progress monitoring.
Dr. Christ serves on the Editorial Review Boards of School Psychology Review, Journal of School Psychology, School Psychology Forum, (ad hoc) School Psychology Quarterly and Assessment for Effective Intervention. He is a Principle Panelist for the Institute of Education Sciences Special Education Panel and Technical Review Committee of the National Center for Response to Intervention. Dr. Christ was the 2009 Division 16 Program Chair for the American Psychological Association (APA).
Dr Christ was the 2008 recipient of APA Division 16Lightner Witmer Award for “scholarly activity and contributions that have significantly nourished school psychology as a discipline and profession … [and for] exceptional potential and promise to contribute knowledge and professional insights that are of uncommon and extraordinary quality.”
Sponsored Projects
Computer Based Assessment System for Reading (C-BAS-R) and Math (C-BAS-M)
Principal Investigator (funded by OSEP)
C-BAS-R and C-BAS-M are computer-based assessment systems (CBAS) that evaluate the level and rate of reading and math development from kindergarten to fifth grade. Each assessment is individualized at the time of assessment (adaptive) to yield precise estimates of achievement. It is useful to identify students with deficit levels of achievement (such as might occur within a problem solving and response to intervention model of service delivery). Additional information is available at http://www.cehd.umn.edu/edpsych/C-BAS-R.
Curriculum-Based Measurement(Formative Assessment Instrumentation and Procedures; FAIP)
The FAIP Project is designed to a) develop an optimal set of instrumentation and procedures for Curriculum-Based Measurement of oral Reading (CBM-R), b) compare progress monitoring outcomes across alternate passage set combinations, c) define optimal progress monitoring procedures, and d) yield an web-based interface to facilitate the use of FAIP materials and interpretation of CBM-R progress monitoring outcomes. Additional information is available at http://www.cehd.umn.edu/EdPsych/FAIP-R.
Direct Behavior Rating (DBR)
Co-Principal Investigator (funded IES)
Dr. Christ contributed to the conception and development of DBR as an assessment tool to facilitate efficient and meaningful classroom-based assessment of social behaviors. Information and resources are available at http://www.directbehaviorratings.com.
As described in Christ, Riley-Tillman & Chafouleas (2009), DBR is an evaluative rating that is generated at the time and place that behavior occurs by those persons who are naturally present in the context of interest. For example, common raters include direct service delivery providers, such as the teacher or parent, as well as the target student who can self-record. DBR instrumentation and procedures combine the benefits of both behavior rating scales (e.g., efficient data recording) and SDO (e.g., data recording that occurs at the time and place of behavior). This combination of features allows DBR-type assessments to yield specific estimates of child behavior at a particular time, in a particular place, and within a particular set of conditions. This conceptual foundation of DBR facilitates the development and evaluation of instrumentation and procedures to assess a variety of measurement targets that are relevant to data-based decision making within relevant settings (e.g., home, school, and clinic). Thus, the defining characteristics of DBR include the directness of observation, observation of specific behaviors, and an evaluative component of ratings.
Christ, T. J., Riley-Tillman, T. C., & Chafouleas, S. M. (2009). Direct Behavior Ratings (DBRs): Foundation for the development and use of DBR to assess and evaluate of behavior. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 34, 201-213.
Publications
Christ, T. J., Riley-Tillman, T. C., Chafouleas, S. M., & Boice, C. H. (2010). Direct Behavior Rating (DBR): Generalizability and dependability across raters and observations by facet and universe of generalization. Educational & Psychological Measurement, 70. doi: 10.1177/0013164410366695
Ardoin, S. P., Carfolite, J., Christ, T. J., Roof, C. M., & Klubnick, C. (2010). Examining readability estimates’ predictions of students’ oral reading rate: Spache, Lexile, and Forcast. School Psychology Review, 39(2), 277-285.
Chafouleas, S. M., Riley-Tillman, T. C., & Christ, T. J. (2009). Direct Behavior Rating (DBR): An emerging method for assessing social behavior within a tiered intervention system. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 34, 157-173.
Christ, T. J., Riley-Tillman, T. C., & Chafouleas, S. M. (2009). Direct Behavior Ratings (DBRs): Foundation for the development and use of DBR to assess and evaluate of behavior. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 34, 201-213.
Christ, T. J., & Boice, C. H. (2009). Rating scale items: A brief review of nomenclature, components and formatting. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 34, 242-250.
Chafouleas, S.M., Christ, T.J., & Riley-Tillman, T.C. (2009). Generalizability and dependability of scaling gradients on Direct Behavior Ratings (DBRs). Educational and Psychological Measurement, 69, 157-173.
Ardoin, S. P., & Christ, T. J. (2009). Curriculum based measurement of oral reading: Estimates of standard error when monitoring progress using alternate passage sets, School Psychology Review, 38, 266-283.
Riley-Tillman, T. C., Chafouleas, S. M., Christ, T. J., Briesch, A. M., & LeBel, T. J. (2009). The impact of item wording and behavioral specificity on the accuracy of Direct Behavior Ratings (DBRs). School Psychology Quarterly, 24, 1-12.
Christ, T. J., & Ardoin, S. P. (2009). Curriculum-based measurement of oral reading: Passage equivalence and probe-set development. Journal of School Psychology, 47, 55-75.
Christ, T. J., Scullin, S., Tolbize, A., & Jiban, C. L. (2008). Implications of recent research: Curriculum based measurement of math computation. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 33, 198-205.
Ardoin, S. P., & Christ, T. J. (2008). Evaluating curriculum based measurement slope estimate using data from tri-annual universal screenings. School Psychology Review, 37, 109-125.