Kindergarten Screening Predictive Inaccuracy: First-Grade Teacher Variability

Abstract

Screening kindergarten students to predict first-grade achievement is characterized by rather gross errors of both over identification and underidentification. This lack of predictive validity may be the consequence of overly simplistic conceptualizations that fail to take into account differences in first-grade teachers. This study attempted to evaluate the extent to which first-grade teachers differ in their preferences, requirements, and expectancies of students. Twenty-one teachers ranked 86 student descriptors on a continuum ranging from “absolutely contributes to student success” to “absolutely contributes to student failure.” Results suggest that teachers vary considerably in the way they rank student descriptors and that these variations may be a factor in the predictive inaccuracy of kindergarten screening.