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Psychology in
the
Schools
Volume
26,
July
1989
ASSESSMENT
OF
MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN
A QUANTITATIVE SCORING SYSTEM,
AND THE KAUFMAN TEST
OF
EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT
WITH THE MATRIX ANALOGIES TEST-SHORT FORM, DRAW A PERSON:
PETER N. PREWETT
Columbus
Public Schools
ACHILLES N.
BARDOS
JACK A. NAGLIERI
Arfred University
The Ohio State University
This study examined the utility of the MAT-SF and the
DAP:
A Quantitative Scor-
ing System as screening instruments for mental retardation.
In
this study,
46
nor-
mals and 39 developmentally handicapped
(DH)
4th- and 5th-grade students were
group administered both screening tests and individually administered an achieve-
ment test, the KTEA. The results found the MAT-SF to correlate significantly with
all
areas
of
achievement for both groups, whereas the
DAP
did not correlate significant-
ly with any areas of achievement for the normal group but correlated significantly
with math, but not reading, for the developmentally handicapped students. The results
support the use of the MAT-SF as a screening instrument for mental retardation,
whereas the usefulness of the
DAP
is not as clear.
Concurrent validity is an important issue when one is examining the potential
of
tests for use in educational settings (Anastasi, 1982). For the tests to be useful, they
should discriminate accurately between students with normal abilities and students with
relatively lower abilities who might qualify for special education programs
-
such as
developmentally handicapped (DH) students. Additionally, the tests should demonstrate
good criterion-related validity, such as significant correlations with measures of academic
achievement. If the new tests are designed for screening purposes, meeting these criteria
is also important because screening is a rough selection process that often is used to
identify students who should be referred for a full evaluation (Anastasi, 1982). One
measure of a screening test’s usefulness, then,
is
its ability to identify students who would
qualify for special education services after a full evaluation and those who would not.
Two tests have been developed recently that may be useful as screening measures.
The first test, Matrix Analogies Test-Short Form (MAT-SF; Naglieri, 1985a), is a nonver-
bal test that requires the student to solve problems of the standard progressive matrix
type. The other test, Draw A Person: A Quantitative Scoring System (DAP; Naglieri,
1988), is a recently normed scoring system for human figure drawings. Although both
of the test manuals report validity and reliability data, neither reports concurrent validity
studies with students identified as developmentally handicapped. This study, therefore,
examined the concurrent validity
of
the MAT-SF and DAP with students in regular and
DH classrooms in order to study the relationship between the tests and academic achieve-
ment. It is expected that the developmentally handicapped students will earn significantly
lower scores on both screening tests than regular classroom students
and
that the screening
tests will correlate significantly with academic achievement for both groups.
Reprint requests should be addressed to Jack
A.
Naglieri, Ohio State University, 356 Arps
Hall,
1945
N. High St., Columbus,
OH
43210.
254