Part of the New Canadian Study required the examination of general ability measures. The requisites were that the measure selected be applicable for Grades 5 to 9 and that it could be administered to students with a limited command of English. Included in this report are: (1) a summary of the considerations involved in selecting a general intellectual ability measure, (2) a review of testing, (3) reasons for selecting Raven's Progressive Matrices (PM), (4) an outline of the major features of PM, (5) a brief review of its previous use in sub- and cross-cultural studies, and (6) a description of the testing procedures used in the New Canadian Study. It is thought that these data will be useful if the PM is used in the school system after norms become available. (Author/JS)