School and College Ability Test (SCAT) Validation in Spain: Overview of the Process and Some Results

Abstract

In this study, we shall briefly cover some of the relevant aspects of the process of the School College Ability Test (SCAT) validation in Navarra, Spain, paying special attention to certain methodological questions of interest. The paper will begin by describing the tests to be validated and the methodology that has been followed during the process. Having established these points, we will present the results obtained, with the goal of establishing the norms of these tests to be used in Spain for the detection of verbally and mathematically talented pupils, applying the model developed for the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) in 1971. Since 1979, the Center for Talented Youth (CTY) at Johns Hopkins University has continued using this model in Talent Searches, and other universities have adopted it as well, with history and results published in numerous studies (Benbow, 1991; Benbow & Lubinski, 1997; Cohn, 1991; Stanley, 1991; Stanley, George, & Solano, 1977; Stanley, Keating, & Fox, 1974; Van Tassel Baska, 1996).