Evaluating Abridged Versions of the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices for Identifying Students with Academic Talent

Abstract

The Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM) has been recommended as a useful measure for identifying academic potential. Several abridged versions of the test, including Set I, have been developed as shorter screening instruments, but they await systematic evaluation. Two hundred twenty-one academically talented students (62% males), who ranged from fifth to ninth grades, completed the APM Set I and Set II. In addition, two short forms of the APM were derived using a technique described by Arthur and Day (1994). Both of these short forms had psychometric properties that were superior to those of Set I of the APM and were correlated more strongly with the full APM than Set I. The psychometric properties of the derived short forms were examined with an independent sample of students (n = 247) and found to be comparable. In addition, scores from these short forms were correlated significantly (but moderately) with independent reasoning assessments used to identify academic talent. With appropriate caution, short forms of the APM may be a reasonable alternative to the full test as a quick screening measure for identifying potentially talented students.