Conners' Teacher Rating Scale for preschool children: a revised, brief, age-specific measure

The Conners' Teacher Rating Scale-Revised (CTRS-R) is one of the most commonly used measures of child behavior problems. However, the scale length and the appropriateness of some of the items on the scale may reduce the usefulness of the CTRS-R for use with preschoolers. In this study, a Graded Response Model analysis based on Item Response Theory was applied to the CTRS-R data from 669 preschool children. Children in this data sample ranged in age from 25 to 74 months, and 44.4% were identified as African American, 45.4% Caucasian, 10.2% other. The sample was 53.7% boys and 46.3% girls. A revised version of the scale was developed specifically for use with preschool children. Five items each for the Inattention, Hyperactivity/Impulsivity, and Opposition scales were included in the revised scale. The revised scales significantly reduce the time needed for teachers to complete the measures while retaining the scales' ability to discriminate children with different levels of behavioral problems.