Conners 4 is a Favorite Among School Psychologists

In the summer of 2022, Conners 4th Edition™ (Conners 4^®), the highly anticipated revision of Conners 3rd Edition (Conners 3^®), the world’s leading ADHD assessment, was released. Our research and development teams incorporated the most current research and user experience data into the Conners 4 in collaboration with numerous experts. Designed for school psychologists to overcome day-to-day challenges while keeping fairness and inclusivity in mind, these updates were intended to provide a comprehensive clinical picture of youth being assessed.

There has been an overwhelmingly positive response to the Conners 4 from school psychologists. Marc G., Lead School Psychologist, Counseling and Student Services for a large U.S. School District says that the Conners 4 is “… [a] wonderful upgrade from the Conners 3. The reports are very helpful. I especially like that hyperactivity and impulsivity are separated and the anxious thoughts/depressed mood scales. Including sleep was a big improvement. The open-ended questions are much appreciated. It’s much appreciated that our entire staff can access the manual. I also like how easy it is to purchase digital usages.” There are a number of new features that have been added to the Conners 4 that help both youth outcomes and ease of use.

What’s new in Conners 4?

Now fully digital, Conners 4 helps you gain valuable time with customizable reports, online scoring for better data visualization, easy inventory management, a digital manual, and printable forms. Early feedback indicates this improved user experience is a favorite among users. School psychologists are excited at the prospect of online administration and moving away from USB and physical forms. Still unsure of the benefits of digital assessment? Read our Benefits of Assessing Digitally Guide.

The digital administration has by far been one of the most significant administration-related improvements to come about with Conners 4. However, some school psychologists still want printed forms on hand for use with youth and their families who perhaps don’t have access to email or the internet. Digital administration of Conners 4 allows for the printing of forms for this purpose, and this comes with many benefits, including:

• Ability to print the assessment form for the student, parents, and teachers to bring home, to school, or the office is enabled. The form can then be returned to the practitioner to enter the information into MHS Online Assessment Center+. Printing a form does not impact your inventory. If a student, parent, or teacher loses the form, you can simply re-print without incurring any additional cost.
• Improved inventory management by purchasing general Conners 4 uses. These uses can be used across any Conners 4 form (e.g., full-length Conners 4, Conners 4─Short, Parent, or Teacher) and decide while generating the report rather than calculating inventory allocation in advance.
• There is no minimum order of QuikScore forms, reports, translated forms, etc. You can purchase individual uses as needed on a use-by-use case to help reduce waste and save money.
• Customizable reports provide more flexibility, allowing you to generate and print only the sections you need. Reports are available in both a Word document and PDF format.
• Instant reports flag items for immediate intervention which helps to support standard of care best practices.

School Psychologist Dasa J. says, “…moving from the Conners 3 to the Conners 4 was like moving from a Honda to a Mercedes. I absolutely love it.” She also remarked that credit transfer from Conners 3 to Conners 4 was great as inventory did not go to waste. If you have questions about the Conners 3 to Conners 4 transition process, check out our transition guide here.

Increased accuracy of assessment and better-informed intervention.

Updates in Conners 4 allow for a number of key enhancements in the area of assessment accuracy and differential diagnoses, including:

• The ability to address critical concerns with Severe Conduct and Self-Harm Critical Items and the inclusion of a Sleep Problems Indicator.
• The inclusion of free access to PROMIS^® (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) Sleep Disturbance and Sleep-Related Impairment tools.
• The addition of new content areas and common co-occurring problems such as Emotional Dysregulation, Depressed Mood, and Anxious Thoughts.
• Measuring functional impairments related to ADHD symptoms in the school, social, and family domains.
• The ability to apply a dimensional approach with an additional DSM Symptoms Scale: Total ADHD Symptoms.

Conners 4 also allows evaluation of a youth’s relative strengths and weaknesses using Within-Profile Comparisons for more informed intervention. These updates are among the most popular additions to the Conners 4. Marc G. says of these improvements, “I like that you can obtain multiple pieces of information such as scaled scores as well as symptom counts in the same place. The Conners 4 is much more useful for diagnosis compared to competing options. It is well aligned with DSM.” School Psychologist Amy M. says, “It is exciting to see critical item scales and the changes you have made to the measure. It’s great that you are adapting to the needs of our clients and the latest research landscape.”

Quantification of severity, enhanced collaboration, and increased fairness and inclusivity

Conners 4 helps evaluate the severity of symptoms by allowing for the comparison of assessment results to an ADHD Reference Sample (others already diagnosed with ADHD). As part of our updates, Conners 4 also facilitates collaboration with parents using an enhanced Parent Feedback Handout (easy-to-understand explanation and summary of results).

In this new edition of Conners, fairness and inclusivity were top of mind for our team. Conners 4 improves fairness and inclusivity with gender-inclusive language, culturally sensitive items, and items and scales showing no measurement bias regarding gender, race/ethnicity, country of residence, or parental education level.

Start using Conners 4 today

MHS has complied informative resources we hope you will find helpful as you make the transition from using Conners 3 to Conners 4 or begin using Conners 4.

Click here to view our collection of onboarding resources.

Looking for more Conners 4 Training? Purchase Conners 4 On-Demand Training and earn 1.25 CE/CPD Credits.

Ready to purchase? Click here to start using Conners 4 today.