Using the SSIS assessments with Australian students : A comparative analysis of test psychometrics to the US normative sample

The Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS; Gresham & Elliott, 2008) is a multiple stage, broadband system for assessing and intervening with children in preschool through 12th grade originally normed in the USA. Two of the assessment components of this system were analysed: (a) the Performance Screening Guides (PSGs); and (b) the Rating Scales (RSs). Australian teachers in Ipswich (N = 15) and South Brisbane (N = 30) rated their elementary school students with the SSIS. This study’s objective was to compare the psychometric properties of an Australian sample of students to the US-based normative sample to determine the transferability of the measure among English speaking populations. Internal consistency reliability was good for both samples across both measures. Correlations between PSGs and RSs domains were similar within the two countries. Conditional probability analyses indicated the PSGs work as the first stage of a multiple gating procedure. Overall, the psychometric data, based on a sample of Australian students, demonstrated similar results to the large US-based normative sample, suggesting that the reliability of scores and the validity of ensuing inferences for the SSIS measures are generalizable for child assessment purposes