Preliminary Evidence of the Validity of the WISC-III for African American Students Undergoing Special Education Evaluation

Abstract

Two studies were conducted to evaluate the validity of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Third Edition (WISC-III) with African American students undergoing special education evaluations. In Study 1, correlations between Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised (WISC-R) and WISC-III scores were examined for 31 African American students undergoing 3-year reevaluations for special education. The correlations obtained were comparable to those reported in the WISC-III manual, but WISC-III scores were lower than scores on the WISC-R. In Study 2, the factor structure of the WISC-III was investigated for 58 African American students undergoing initial special education evaluations. Although unrotated factors supported the validity of the WISC-III, some problems arose following varimax rotation.