Many states now mandate early screening for dyslexia, but vary in how they address these mandates. There is confusion about the nature of screening versus diagnostic assessments, risk versus diagnosis, concurrent versus predictive validity, and inattention to indices of classification accuracy as the basis for determining risk. To help define what…

Several criteria are proposed for determining and communicating screening results. These criteria provide a context for judging prediction accuracy. It is argued that accuracy of prediction is of little value and cannot be considered sufficient unless the predictions lead to better educational opportunities for the students about whom they are…

Teacher perception, test batteries, and single instruments are presented as the major types of procedures for predicting which preschool children are at risk for experiencing school problems. (SBH)