Psychometric Properties of the Behavior Assessment System for Children Student Observation System (BASC-3 SOS) with Young Children in Special Education.
BASC-3 SOS observer scores drift too much for solo decisions—always back them with teacher ratings and double-check with a second trained observer.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team watched preschoolers in special-ed classes with the BASC-3 SOS. They wanted to know if the scores stayed the same when two people watched the same child.
They also checked if the tool could spot real behavior change after a few weeks. Kids had delays or mixed diagnoses.
What they found
Two raters often gave different scores. Test-retest was only low-to-mid. The scale looked valid, but it did not pick up behavior change over time.
How this fits with other research
Oliver et al. (2002) tested the ABC-C parent form in special-ed kids and found a clear four-factor shape with good internal consistency. Their parent tool held together; the live BASC-3 SOS observer tool did not.
Paff et al. (2019) built the EBP-COM observer measure for autism classrooms. Like M et al., they reported inter-rater numbers, but EBP-COM met reliability goals. The difference: EBP-COM trained raters with stricter rules, showing the problem is in the BASC-3 SOS protocol, not in classroom observation itself.
Jitlina et al. (2017) saw the same kind of mixed news with the SCAS-P in autism. Only parts of that scale worked. The pattern repeats: full-scale structure fails, yet selected pieces stay solid.
Why it matters
If you use the BASC-3 SOS, pair it with teacher or parent ratings and never trust a single observer score alone. Train two staff to code the same child, then average or discuss differences. For progress tracking, pick a different tool or pull specific BASC-3 SOS items that showed stability in your own reliability probe.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Run a five-minute dual-coder check: have two staff score the same child, compare, and retrain until their item agreement tops 80%.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
UNLABELLED: Measuring classroom behavior among young children is important to guide assessment and intervention decisions, yet there is limited literature on appropriate direct observation tools for this purpose. This article describes the psychometric properties of the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Student Observation System (BASC-3 SOS) with 135 children ages 20 to 67 months (M = 35 months, 64% Latinx, 78% with an established developmental disability) and their teachers (N = 36) as part of a larger randomized control trial of a teacher training intervention. Inter-rater reliability on individual BASC-3 SOS behaviors ranged from poor to good. Correlations between BASC-3 SOS scores across time indicated low to moderate developmental test-retest reliability. Significant correlations between BASC-3 SOS scores and teacher ratings provided evidence for convergent, divergent, and predictive validity. Differences between BASC-3 SOS scores for children with versus without disabilities supported the tool's discriminant validity. There were no significant pre- to post-treatment changes in BASC-3 SOS scores. Overall, results provide mixed evidence for the psychometric properties of the BASC-3 SOS when used with young, diverse children with and without disabilities. Implications for clinical and research purposes are discussed. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10864-021-09458-x.
Journal of behavioral education, 2021 · doi:10.1016/S0005-7894(03)80018-7