Construct Validity of the Resilience Assessment of Exceptional Students (RAES).

Factor analyses identified 3 domains of resiliency with 11 separate factors involving 54 items for exceptional urban students based on 613 parent ratings of an initial pool of 94 items for an experimental Coping with Disabilities Scales. The factors were labeled: Knowledge of Exceptionality; Planning for Needs; and Alternative Thinking for the Exceptionality Problem Solving domain. For the Resilience Behavior domain, four factors were identified that were labeled: (1) Modeling/Active; (2) Self-Efficacy/Locus of Control; (3) Positive Peer Relations; and (4) Positive Adult Relations. A Social Support domain included four factors labeled Mother/Teacher, Nuclear Family, Extended Family, and Community. The revised scale was named the Resilience Assessment of Exceptional Students (RAES) and a domain of stressors was revised and labeled Child Life Experience Checklist. Results are reviewed relevant to applications for assessment, intervention, and research. (Contains 3 tables and 17 references.) (Author/SLD)