Predicting Later Academic Achievement from Kindergarten Scores on the Metropolitan Readiness Tests and the Lollipop Test

Abstract

The long-term predictive validities of the Metropolitan Readiness Tests (MRT) and the Lollipop Test: A Diagnostic Screening Test of School Readiness were examined. The achievement of 246 students in reading and mathematics as measured by the Stanford Achievement Test and teacher assigned grades in first, third, and fourth grades was predicted from kindergarten administrations of each of these test batteries. All multiple correlations for the Lollipop Test and the MRT were found to be significant and similar in magnitude. Perhaps particularly noteworthy, was that the Lollipop Test, a shorter screening instrument, performed as well as the lengthier MRT in predicting school achievement.

Maternal mind-mindedness and children’s school readiness: A longitudinal study of developmental processes.

“…In the current study, all children who completed the Lollipop completed all four scales; accordingly, use of the total score was appropriate. This score correlates highly (r = .76) with that on the Metropolitan Readiness Tests (Chew & Morris, 1984), and has been shown to predict school achievement (Eno & Woehlke, 1995) up to 4th grade (Chew & Morris, 1989).…”

Development and psychometric properties of the Early Development Instrument (EDI): A measure of children's school readiness.

“…Chew and Lang (1990) and Chew and Morris (1989) showed that Lollipop Test's domains mapped closely to those tested on DIAL-R and the Metropolitan Readiness Test (MRT; Swanson, Payne, & Jackson, 1981) yet required a shorter testing time. Neither the Lollipop nor the MRT have specific "readiness levels" used to classify children as ready or not; their main purpose is to predict first grade academic success from a kindergarten testing.…”

Closing the gap in academic readiness and achievement: the role of early childcare

“…The Lollipop Test, a well-validated diagnostic test of school readiness, is composed of four subtests: identification of colors and shapes and copying shapes; picture description, position, and spatial recognition; identification of numbers and counting; identification of letters and writing . Kindergarten scores predict academic achievement up to grade four (Chew & Morris, 1989). Receptive vocabulary was assessed using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) in either of Canada's two official languages: French and English (Dunn & Dunn, 1981;Dunn, Theriault-Whalen, & Dunn, 1993).…”