AN INVESTIGATION OF THE PSYCHOMETRIC INTEGRITY OF THE TESTS OF DYSLEXIA (TOD) RATING SCALES

To determine the psychometric properties of the newly developed Tests of Dyslexia (TOD) rating scales (Mather et al., in press) and inform data analyses addressing related questions, data from 177 first through fifth-grade examinees who completed the Self-Report, Parent/Primary Caregiver, and Teacher rating scales were evaluated. Reliability estimates (i.e., Cronbach alpha coefficients) for the Self-Report, Parent/Primary Caregiver, and Teacher rating scales are .94, .96, and .97, respectively. Item-scale coefficients, analyzed to determine the relationship of items within each scale, are considered acceptable. Correlational and mean-difference analyses determined the comparability of the scales across raters and the extent ratings vary as a function of racial group membership (i.e., White, Hispanic, Black/African American, Asian), sex, and socioeconomic status (SES). Teacher ratings (M = 2.67, SD = 0.60) of examinees’ literacy skills and attitudes toward reading indicated more risk than did the ratings from examinees (M = 2.60, SD = 0.47, p = 0.04) and parents/primary caregivers (M = 2.61, SD = 0.62, p = 0.02). Additionally, teachers rated the skills/attitudes of female examinees (M = 2.77, SD = 0.64) as more problematic than males (M = 2.57, SD = 0.54, p = .01). Mean ratings of White students, collapsed across other variables, indicated more severe reading problems when compared to mean ratings of Hispanic students (p = .005). No significant mean differences occurred between White and Asian (p = 1.00), White and Black/African American (p = .055), Hispanic and Asian (p = .39), Hispanic and Black/African American (p = 1.00), and Asian and Black/African American (p = .93) examinees. Mean ratings of examinees with parents who did not complete high school were less severe than those of parents with some college education or higher. No significant difference occurred between examinees with high school-educated parents and all other parents (i.e., did not complete high school (p = .22), some college/associate degree (p = .71), bachelor’s degree or higher (p = .69)) or between examinees with parents who attended some college/associate degree and parents with a bachelor’s degree or higher (p = 1.00). Implications for use of the TOD-C rating scales are discussed.