School Motivation and Learning Strategies Inventory (SMALSI)

Interpretation. Recommendations for interpreting the SMALSI test-score profiles are provided in the SMALSI manual. The scales are separated into two groups: Student Strengths scales and Student Liabilities scales. The strengths group includes the Study Strategies (STUDY), Note-Taking/Listening Skills (NOTE), Reading/Comprehension Strategies (READ), Writing/Research Skills (WRITE), Test-Taking Strategies (TEST), Organizational Techniques (ORG), and Time Management (TIME), or Time Management/Organizational Techniques (TTMORG) scales. The liabilities group includes the Low Academic Motivation (LOMOT), Test Anxiety (TANX), and Concentration/Attention Difficulties (CONFID) scales. Students with valid scores below 40 on a SMALSI scale in the strengths group or above 60 on a scale in the liabilities group should be targeted for intervention. Suggested qualitative descriptors for SMALSI score ranges are provided in the SMALSI manual. Detailed descriptions, with supporting references to research, are also provided for each of the scales. Internal consistency was measured using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Internal consistency estimates for responses given by the SMALSI child and teen standardization samples are provided in the SMALSI manual. Estimates for groups in each sample stratified by age, grade, gender, and ethnicity are also provided. The majority of the alpha coefficients for each form are above .75 and many are in the .80s. For the teen form, nearly all of the coefficients are in the 80s and 90s and are routinely higher than on the child form. The only estimate below .70 was on the child form and occurred in WRITE at .69. A review of the estimates by age group for the child form provided in the SMALSI manual indicates a trend of increased consistency in responses on the WRITE scale with increased age during elementary school. A similar trend was noted in the estimates on the child form for the TEST scale and reiterates the difficulty in accurately assessing learning strategies in young elementary school children. Internal consistency estimates for the SMALSI scores were otherwise reasonably comparable across forms and across all age groups. The relationship between SMALSI scores and scores from other tests were examined to determine if SMALSI scores simply measure traditional personality dimensions. When compared with the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC) self-report (SRP) scores, SMALSI Student Strengths scores are negatively correlated wit