Assessment of Preschool Behavior and Social-Emotional Functioning: A Review of Thirteen Third-Party Instruments

This study investigated the psychometric qualities of 13 preschool third-party measures of social-emotional functioning. Most of the rating scales were severely limited in critical and primary areas of technical adequacy, including standardization samples, internal consistency, stability, interrater reliability, ceilings, floors, item gradients, and evidence of validity. Instruments which most frequently met the psychometric criteria were primarily recently published scales.

Concurrent validity of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Third Edition as an intelligence and achievement screener for low SES African American children

Authors tested the validity of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Third Edition (PPVT-III) as a screening measure for intelligence and achievement. The PPVT-III and Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC) were administered to 416 African American children of low socioeconomic status in a counterbalanced design. Results indicated that the PPVT-III correlated .58 with the KABC Mental Processing Composite (MPC) score; however, participants scored significantly lower (M = 8.3 points) on the PPVT-III than on the MPC. Although receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses supported the use of the PPVT-III as a valid intellectual and achievement screener, the selection of a single cutoff score for the PPVT-III was problematic. The purpose of the screening program should guide selection of a cutoff score for the PPVT-III.