General Information

The Child Rating Scale (CRS) is a socioemotional self-rating scale for elementary school children. It is a two-sided measure consisting of 24 items which are arranged in six groups of four items each. On the front side of the CRS are spaces for identifying information (e.g., child's name, school, teacher), directions on how to complete the CRS, and two examples for practice. The back side of the CRS contains the 24 items. Children's responses to these items are grouped into empirically derived scales which assess the following areas: Rule Compliance/Acting Out, Anxiety/Withdrawal, Peer Social Skills, and School Interest.

Number of Versions:	1
Version:	Child Rating Scale
Author(s):	A. Dirk Hightower, Emory L. Cowen, Arline P. Spinell, Bohdan S. Lotyczewski, John C. Guare, Cynthia A. Rohrbeck, & Lannie P. Brown
Date of Publication:	1995
Material(s) Needed for Test:	Instrument
Manual:	Available
Time to Administer:	20 minutes
Charge for one form or kit:	No

Purpose and Nature of Test

Construct(s) Measured:	Conduct problems, Social skills
Population for which designed:	Age Range: 5 through 13 years old Grade Level: Kindergarten to Sixth Grade
Method of Administration:	Group and Individual
Source of Information:	Self
Subtests and Scores:	Rule Compliance/Acting-Out, Anxiety/Withdrawal, Interpersonal Social Skills, Self-Confidence
Number of Items:	24
Type of Scale:	Likert

Technical Evaluation

Norms: 

Sample Size:	2,381
Population:	Children from 19 urban and 15 suburban schools in the Rochester, NY metropolitan area.
Culture/ethnicity:	African-American, Caucasian
SES Level:	Not reported by author(s).

Reliability: 

Psychometric information:	Provided for Full Scales.
The range of Test-Retest Value:	0.21 to 0.87
The range of Inter-rater reliability:	Not assessed
The range of Internal consistency:	0.42 to 0.83

Validity: 

 Criterion validity was assessed and found to be acceptable.

Practical Evaluation

Scoring Procedure:	Manual and Computer Scoring
Examiner Qualifications and Training Required:	None
Permission Required to Use Instrument:	Yes
If yes, by whom:	Primary Mental Health Project, Inc.

Notes

Original Reference(s):

Hightower, A. D., Cowen, E. L., Spinell, A. P., Lotyczewski, B. S. (1987). The Child Rating Scale: The development of a socioemotional self-rating scale for elementary school children. School Psychology Review, 16 (2), 239-255.

Contact

Name:	McKenzie Keenan
Organization:	Children's Institute, Inc.
Address:	274 N. Goodman Street, Suite D103
City:	Rochester
State:	NY
Zip:	14607
Phone:	(877) 888-7647
Fax:	(585) 295-1090
E-mail:	mkeenan@childrensinstitute.net
Website:	http://www.childrensinstitute.net/

Last updated by Violence Institute of New Jersey:  August 2006