Early Childhood Measurement and Evaluation

Tool Review
Early Childhood Measurement and Evaluation (ECME), a portfolio within CUP, produces
Early Childhood Measurement Tool Reviews as a resource for those who conduct screening,
assessment, and evaluation. To learn more about ECME and CUP, provide feedback, or to
access additional reviews, visit our website at www.cup.ualberta.ca or email us at
cup@ualberta.ca

Behavior Assessment System for Children

Second Edition (BASC-2)
Measurement Areas:
TheBehaviorAssessmentSystemforChildren2ndEdition(BASC2)isanormreferenced
diagnostictooldesignedtoassessthebehaviorandselfperceptionsofchildrenandyoung
adultsages2to25years.TheBASC2isamultidimensionalandmultimethodtoolsinceit
measuresnumerousbehavioralandpersonalitycharacteristicsthroughseveralreportbased
measures.OntheParentandTeacherRatingScalesthetoolconsistsof16primarymeasurement
areas,however,notall16scalesaremeasuredoneachRatingScale:
ActivitiesofDailyLiving
FunctionalCommunication
Adaptability
Hyperactivity
Aggression
Leadership
Anxiety
LearningProblems
AttentionProblems
SocialSkills
Atypicality
Somatization
ConductDisorder
StudySkills
Depression
Withdrawal

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Purpose:
TheBASC2isabehavioralassessmenttoolthatcanbeused:
fortreatmentprogramplanning,evaluation,andintervention,
toassistwithdifferentialdiagnoseswhenusedinconjunctionwiththeDSMIV,
todetermineeducationalclassificationandprogrammingassistanceeligibility,
withothertoolsfeaturingoverlappingnormsforincreasedaccuracyandreliability,
toassistindeterminingcausesofproblembehaviorforchildrenwithdisabilities,
forforensicevaluation.

Length and Structure:

TheBASC2administrationtimedependsuponthekindsofratingscalesused,andthenumberof
teachers,parents,orcaregiversselectedforreporting.Accordingtothemanual,theTeacher
RatingScales(TRS)takeapproximately1015minutestocomplete,theParentRatingScales(PRS)
takeapproximately1020minutes,andtheSelfReportonPersonality(SRP)takesapproximately
2030minutes.

AStructuredDevelopmentalHistory(SDH)interview/reportisalsoavailable;however,the
authorsdonotstatethelengthoftheadministration.Finally,theStudentObservation
System(SOS)isanadditionalmeasurethatallowsthecliniciantoobserveandevaluatethechild
oradolescentsdailyclassroombehaviordirectly,andtakesapproximately15minutesfor
observation.ThenewPortableObservationSystem(POP)canbeplacedonaPDAorlaptopand
offersastreamlinedwayofcollectingobservationaldataelectronically.Theamountoftime
requiredforthescoringandinterpretationofanyofthesemeasuresisnotdiscussedinthe
manual.

Thetoolconsistsof5differentkindsofreports/formsthatarecompletedbyanarrayofparents,
teachers,caregivers,theexaminee,andtheclinician:

TheTeacherRatingScales(TRS)areseparatedinto3forms:preschool(ages2to5),child
(ages6to11),andadolescent(ages12to21).TheTRShasbetween100and139items
thatareratedona4pointscaleofbehavioralfrequencyfromNevertoAlmostAlways.
TheParentRatingScales(PRS)sharethesameagegroupforms,andhavebetween134to
160itemsusingthesame4pointratingsystem.
TheSelfReportofPersonality(SRP)uses3separateforms:child(ages8to11),adolescent
(ages12to21),andcollege(ages18to25).Anoralinterviewbasedformisalsoavailable
(SRPI)forchildrenaged6to7years.Childrenareorallypresentedquestionsandaskedto
respondwithasimpleyesornoresponse.
ThereisalsoanewParentRelationshipQuestionnaire(PRQ)thatcanbeusedin
conjunctionwithotherparentreportmeasuresoralonetogatherinformationaboutachild
oradolescentsrelationshipwiththeirparents.
Totalrawscoresforeachscaleareconvertedintocompositescores,scaled(normative)
scores,percentilescores,andplottedasbehavioralprofiles.

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Materials:
ThepublisherclassifiestheBASC2asaLevelCqualificationthatistargetedtoinstitutionswith
personnelpossessingmastersordoctoratesofpsychologyoreducation,and/orhaslicensureina
relevantareaofassessmentwithaprovincialornationalorganization.

TheBASC2kitisavailablefromthepublisherinavarietyofpackages,rangingfromCDN$139to
$1780.TheBASC2HandScoredStarterSet(CDN$620)includesthemanual,manualsupplement
forSRPI,25ofeachhandscoredformsfortheTRS,PRS,SRP,SRPI,ParentFeedbackReport,SDH
andSOS.ScoringsoftwareisavailableforscannersandmanualentryforbothWindowsandMac
platforms.Thepublisheralsocarriesadditionalscoringformpacks,testitemsonCD,andtraining
videosinDVDandVHSformat.Forparentsandstudentsthathavedifficultywithreading,test
itemsareavailableonaudioCDinbothEnglishandSpanish(PRSandSRP).

Accessibility:
TheBASC2(manualsandforms)areavailableintheEnglishandSpanishlanguages.Themanual
alsonotesthatindividualswithlimitationsofvisionandhearingcanbeassessedusingthetool,
howeverwheninterpretingtestscorestheseshouldbeconsidered.

Administration, Scoring, and Interpretation:

AdministrationandscoringfortheTRS,PRS,andSRPshouldbecompletedbyprofessionalsor
paraprofessionalsthatarefamiliarwithtestingproceduresandwithappropriatesupervision.As
withotherLevelCinstruments,scoreinterpretationmustbecompletedbyprofessionalswith
formalgraduateleveltrainingorclinicianswithtraininginpsychologicalassessment.Thetestis
easytoadminister,moderatelyeasytoscore,andmoderatelydifficulttointerpretbasedonthe
cliniciansexperienceandinterpretationguidelinesinthemanual.

Subscales:
TheBASC2consistsof16primaryscalesand7optionalscales,alongwith5compositescales.
Sincesomescalesarenotapplicabletocertainagegroups(i.e.theActivitiesofDailyLivingscale
doesnotapplytoadolescents),thenumberofsubscalesuseddependsupontheageofthechild
beingmeasured.Furthermore,somesubscalesarealsonotapplicabletocertainformsfor
exampletheLearningProblemsscaledoesnotapplytotheParentRatingScalesform.TheBASC2
compositescalesconsistof:AdaptiveSkills,BehavioralSymptomsIndex,ExternalizingProblems,
InternalizingProblems,andSchoolProblems.Dependingupontheagegroupsandratingforms
used,theindividualwillhave45compositescorescomprisedof1116primaryscales.Depending
upontheindividualsbehaviouralcircumstances,17optionalcontentscalescanbeexaminedat
thediscretionoftheclinician.

Documentation:
ThemanualincludedintheBASC2kitcontainsspecificproceduresforadministration,scoring,
andextensivesectionsoninterpretation.Themanualalsohaslengthysectionsdiscussingthe
normativesample,standardization,validityandreliability.

SincetheBASC2isthenewestversionoftheBehaviorAssessmentSystemforChildren,veryfew
academicreviewsorstudiesofthetestareavailable.

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Normative Sample:
TheBASC2wasnormedusingtwopopulations:(1)ageneralpopulationsampleofAmerican
childrenandadolescentsfromvarioussettings:public/privateschools,mentalhealth
clinics/hospitalsandpreschools/daycares,and(2)aclinicalnormsampleofAmericanchildren
andadolescents(ages418)whowerediagnosedwithemotional,behavioural,orphysical
problems.

Thegeneralpopulationsamplehadatotalof4,650TeacherRatingScalesreports,4,800Parent
RatingScalesreports,and3,400SelfReportonPersonalityreports.Intermsofagegroups,there
were2,250TRSandPRSforpreschoolages25,3,600TRS,PRSandSRPforchildrenages611,
and5,500TRS,PRSandSRPforadolescents(ages1218).Itshouldbenotedthatlimitedsample
sizesareavailableforages2and18,althoughtheauthorsclaimthatthishashadanegligible
effectonthenorms.Intermsofgenderandethnicrepresentation,thegeneralsampleisextremely
closetoU.S.populationestimates.DatawerealsocollectedfortheSRPCOL(CollegelevelSRP)for
ages1825usinganAmericansampleof706students.

Theclinicalsamplehadatotalof5,281reportsacrosstheTRS,PRSandSRPscales.Thesample
wascomprisedof317preschoolaged(25)children,673childrenages611,and789adolescents
ages1218.Thechildrenusedinthissamplehadavarietyofdiagnoses,includingspecificlearning
disabilities,speech/languageimpairments,emotional/behaviouraldisturbances,hearing
impairmentandADD/ADHD.Additionaldemographicinformationforbothsamplesisdetailedin
themanual.

Reliability:
TheBASC2manualdiscussesthreekindsofreliabilitymeasuresthatwereestablishedbasedon
thetwoaforementionedsamples.

InternalConsistency:Ananalysisofinternalconsistencyyieldedcoefficientalphareliabilities
generallyinthe.90sforthecompositescales,andreliabilitiesgenerallyinthe.80sforindividual
scalesacrossallforms(TRS,PRS,SRP)inboththegeneralsampleandtheclinicalsample.

TestretestReliability:Samplesofindividualsdistributedacrossthethreeagegroups,thatwere
partofboththegeneralandclinicalsamples,wereretestedwiththeBASC2onetoeightweeks
afterthefirstadministration.ThetestretestreliabilitieswerecalculatedforTRS,PRSandSRP,
andyieldedaveragecorrelationsin.80sforcompositescoresandbetweenthe.70sand.80sfor
individualscalesacrossallagegroups.

InterraterReliability:InterraterreliabilityanalysiswasperformedfortheTeacherandParent
reportsforasignificantamountofthescores.Twosamples(forTRSandPRS)weretestedand
ratedby2teachersand2parentsrespectively.Medianreliabilitiesforcompositescoresranged
from.57to.74,andmedianreliabilitiesrangedfrom.53to.65acrossindividualscalesfortheTRS
sample.ThePRSsamplehadmedianreliabilitiesforbothcompositescoresandindividualscales
inthe.70s.

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Validity:
TheBASC2includesanextensivesectionontestvalidity.Accordingtotheauthors,theBASC2
wasdevelopedusingcontentthatcamefromteachers,parents,childrenandpsychologists.The
toolwasalsodevelopedusingdiagnosticcriteriafromtheDSMIVandDSMIVTR,aswellasother
behaviouralinstruments.

Construct,Convergent,andDiscriminativeValidity:Themanualdiscussesseveralvalidation
measuresthatweredesignedtoassesstheBASC2ssimilaritytootherkindsofbehaviouralscales.
FortheTeacherRatingScalesform,thetoolwascomparedtoseveralrelatedbehavioural
assessmenttools,suchas:theAchenbachSystemofEmpiricallyBasedAssessmentCaregiver
TeacherReportForm(ASEBA),ConnersTeacherRatingScaleRevised(CTSRR),andthe
previousversionoftheBehaviorAssessmentSystemforChildren(BASC).Ingeneral,correlations
betweensubscaleswerehigh(inthe.70sand.80s)whentheyaddressedsimilarcontent;as
expectedtheBASC2washighlycorrelated(inthe.90s)withthepreviousBASC.

Similarly,thePRSscalewascomparedwithotherbehaviouralmeasuressuchastheASEBA
ChildBehaviorChecklistforAges15,theConnersParentRatingScaleRevised,theBehavior
RatingInventoryofExecutiveFunctioning(BRIEF),andtheBASC.Generally,theBASC2
correlatedinthe.70sand.80swiththefirstthreescales,andinthe.90swiththepreviousBASC.

Finally,adolescentandcollegescoresontheSRPscalewerecorrelatedwithrelatedselfreport
measuresintheASEBAYouthSelfReport,theConnersWellsAdolescentSelfReportScale(CASS),
ChildrensDepressionInventory(CDI),RevisedChildrensManifestAnxietyScale(RCMAS),Brief
SymptomInventory(BSI),BeckDepressionInventoryII(BDIII),MinnesotaMultiphasic
PersonalityInventory2(MMPI2)andtheBASC.Correlationsbetweenthetoolsvariedwidely
dependinguponthespecificsubscalesthatwerecompared,howeveringeneralthecorrelations
fellinthe.50sand.60s.ThemanualalsoincludesprofilesforclinicalsamplesfortheTRS,PRSand
SRPscales;howeverthisinformationisbeyondthescopeofthisreview.

Publication Information:
TheBehaviorAssessmentSystemforChildrenSecondEdition(BASC2)wasdevelopedbyCecil
R.ReynoldsandRandyW.Kamphaus.Thisreviewisbasedonthe2ndeditionpublishedin2004
byAGSPublishing.

Materials Used for Tool Review:

Manual
Publisherswebsite
__________________________
How to cite this document:
ThisdocumentwascreatedbyCUPandtocitethisdocumentusethefollowing:
CommunityUniversityPartnershipfortheStudyofChildren,Youth,andFamilies(2011).Review
oftheBehaviorAssessmentSystemforChildrenSecondEdition(BASC2).Edmonton,Alberta,
Canada.

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