The Predictive Validity and Reliability of the Basic School Skills Inventory

Abstract

The present study is an investigation of the predictive validity and test-retest reliability of a new readiness instrument, the Basic SchoolSkills Inventory (BSSI). Scores obtained by 90 children in kindergarten on the BSSI were used to predict later teacher ratings of their performance in first grade. Test-retest reliability was estimated using a method developed for criterion-re ferenced measures, and sex and ethnic differences in test scores were examined. It was concluded that the BSSI total score provided an effective and highly reliable means of predicting teachers' ratings of first-grade performance.The assessment of readiness for the first grade is an area of continuing concern and controversy in education. The concern results from educators' recognition of the need t o identify children' with potential educational problems and the need t o acquire diagnostic information that will be of value in planning appropriate educational programs for them. The controversy centers around the identification of an e f f i c i e n t means of obtaining this desired in for mat ion.One way in which educators have attempted to meet the need to identify children who are likely t o experience difficulty in school has been through the development of a wide range of normreferenced instruments. These instruments include general readiness tests, e.g., M e t r o p o l i t a n R e a d i n e s s Tests (Hildreth, Griffiths, & McGauvran 1969); tests designed to measure limited facets of readiness such as perceptual-motor and language abilities, e.g., Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test (Bender 1938) and Screening Tests for Identifying Children with Specific Language Disabilities (Slingerland 1964); and tests related to specific academic areas, e.g., Harrison-Stroud Reading Readiness Profiles (Harrison & Stroud 1956). Such types of traditional readiness measures have been criticized recently because of their limited educational usefulness. The criticisms have been directed toward the limited, range and questionable value of their content. For i n s t a n c e , Adelman and Feshbach (1971) pointed out many behaviors that are important in classroom situations -e.g., responding t o normal classroom routines are not taken into account in readiness assessments. Rather, very limited aspects of academic or preacademic behaviors are sampled under circumstances unlike those in the daily classroom situation, and many of the behavioral demands which a child must face in the classroom simply are not considered.In regard t o the value of the content of readiness tests, Keogh and Becker (1973) have criticized attempts to sample a wide range of skills inferred t o be necessary for success in the SO

The Basic School Skills Inventory as a Preschool Screening Instrument

“…Goodman and Hammill, in an attempt to determine inventory validity, indicate a 0.65 correlation between the BSSI and the Metropolitan Readiness Test. Hawthorne and Larsen (1977) report test-retest reliability for the BSSI at 0.96 and correlation between the BSSI and a teacher rating scale at 0.74.…”