DOCUMENT RESUME ED 241 166 FS 014 211 AUTHOR Hevern, Vincent W.; Geisinger, Kurt F. TITLE An Initial Classification of Noncognitive Student Behavior Grading Items. PUB DATE Aug 83 NOTE; 43p.; Funded by a grant from the Graduate Studies Fund of the New York Province of the Society of Jesus. PUB TYPE Reports - Research/Technical (143) -- Speeches /Conference Papers (150) EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Posteqe. DESCRIPTORS *Classification; Elementary School Teachers; Elementary Secon&ty Education; *Grading; Graduate Students; *Report Cards; Secondary School Teachers; *Student Behavior IDENTIFIERS *Noncognitive Classroom Behaviors ABSTRACT Report-card marking items by which elementary school students' noncognitive classroom behaviors are graded were studied to establish a preliminary classification of behavioral assessment domains. Two studies were conducted. The first study employed a cluster-analytic approach to a pool of 136 noncognitive behavior-marking items that had been sorted and grouped into homogeneous sets by 16 psychologists and educators. In the second study, a total of 59 elementary school teachers rated a 32-item subset of the larger marking item pool on three scales. Specifically assessed were the degree to which items reflected (1) classroom or task-oriented adaptiveness, (2) interpersonal relationships and skills, and (3) personal adjustment and psychological self-concept. Cluster-analytic and analysis of variance results suggested a general dichotomy in the classification of items: quality of task orientation versus quality of interpersonal relational skills. Disagreement was found between the participants of the two studies in their classification of items dealing with students' self-regulatory behavior and acceptance or practice of normative patterns of socialized conduct. (Areas for further empirical study are discussed.) (Author/RH) ********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***********************************************************************