ABSTRACT

A measuring instrument, subsequently named the Measure of Treatment Potential (MTP), was developed between 1961-4 in the course of a comprehensive study on social adjustment, personality and behaviour in Ontario training schools. The primary function of the MTP is to compare various treatment units and to isolate some elements of the methods, populations and situations that help or hinder them. The MTP is composed of two separate measures, one representing the status of the children among their peers, and the second the behaviour rating of the child by the training school staff. The MTP provides a correlation coefficient between the sociometric acceptance scores of pupils within each unit and the behaviour ratings of the responsible staff person. Recidivism data were collected in 1970 with the co-operation of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who provided information on adult offences; and from training school files, which provided data on correctional intervention after graduation.