The RISK Screening Test: Using Kindergarten Teachers' Ratings to Predict Future Placement in Resource Classrooms

Abstract

Teacher ratings from four consecutive cohorts of kindergarten students were used to establish a prediction function by which children who ultimately received special education services in the form of resource-class placement were discriminated from children who remained solely in regular education classrooms. All five factors measured by the RISK scale were significantly related to future school performance, but items that assessed child ability, current performance, and teacher investment were most predictive of eventual special-class placement. Overall accuracy for the screening measure was 94.13%, with 1,194 out of 1,269 children accurately selected to their appropriate educational placement.