Danielle Guzman-Orth

Psychometric Properties of the Working Memory Rating Scale for Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners

The Working Memory Rating Scale (WMRS) was designed as a behavioral rating tool to assist teachers in identifying students at risk of working memory difficulties. The instrument was originally normed on 417 monolingual English-speaking children from the United Kingdom. The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the WMRS on 459 first- to third-grade Spanish-speaking English Language Learners. Results indicated the one-factor model demonstrated adequate fit to the data. High convergent validity emerged with the Conners’ rating scale, but weak correlations occurred with achievement, vocabulary, phonological, short-term memory, and working memory measures. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.