Validity of the British Ability Scales Short-Form for a Sample of US Students

Abstract

In a study of the validity of the British Ability Scales (BAS), 121 sixth-and seventh-grade students were administered the BAS Short Form, consisting of four subtests: Speed of Information Processing, Matrices, Similarities and Recall of Digits. Scores were intercorrelated and compared with students' performance on the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices (RPM) and the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT). Analyses for race differences showed significant black-white differences on the RPM, OLSAT and the BAS IQ. Differences by race were found for two BAS subtests: Matrices and Similarities. The distribution of BAS IQ scores for this sample was normal and comparable to the other measures of general intelligence. Discrepancies from British norms were found, however, for three of the four subtests.