A brief broadband system for screening children at risk for academic difficulties and poor achievement test performance: Validity evidence and applications to practice

The Brief Academic Competence Evaluation Screening System (BACESS) is a broadband universal screening instrument with three increasingly stringent phases for the identification of children at risk for academic and related behavior difficulties. The development of the BACESS involved two samples of students: K–5 students (n = 827) from the standardization sample of the Academic Competence Evaluation Scales (J. C. Diperna & S. N. Elliott, 2000) and a sample of 584 students in Grades 2–5 in 2 South Carolina schools. A total of 29 teachers completed 1 or more phases of the BACESS. The BACESS ratings and students’ year-end standardized achievement test scores were the primary predictor variables in the analyses. The results indicated that the BACESS “Phase 1: Nominations” and “Phase 2: Brief Ratings” correlated significantly with large-scale achievement test results. Phase 1 of the BACESS was a better predictor than Phase 2 across various linear regression models. Teachers perceived BACESS as an effective structure to help them conceptualize students’ difficulties and formulate appropriate intervention strategies in a multitiered intervention system.