Predicting Academic Achievement of Mexican American Children: Preliminary Analysis of the Mccarthy Scales

Abstract

Guided by Public Law 94-142 in which it is mandated that assessment instruments be validated for specific use on exceptional populations, the intent of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities in predicting school achievement (as measured by the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills) for 31 English-speaking, second-grade Mexican American children. It was found that the validity coefficients between McCarthy Scale scores and total Reading/Mathematics achievement scores ranged from .39 to .75. The observed r of .75 between the McCarthy General Cognitive Index and Reading achievement was of comparable magnitude to what has been found in the literature. The finding that the Verbal Scale was the least valid composite predictor of Reading Achievement was discussed in the context of psychometric and cultural considerations. It was concluded that in light of other McCarthy research on Mexican American children and the findings of the present study, the McCarthy appears to be a promising tool in the assessment of English-speaking Mexican American children.