This study evaluated the predictive validity of the Caregiver's School Readiness Inventory (CSRI), a new screening measure developed for use in situations in which it may not be appropriate to employ traditional screening measures to identify preschool children at risk for school failure. The three items of the CSRI concern: (1) children's books available to the child at home; (2) the child's knowledge of the alphabet; and (3) parents' expectations for their child's reading success at the end of first grade. Parents or guardians of 226 children completed the CSRI in the November or December after the children entered kindergarten. Test reliability was confirmed by data obtained from a second completion of the CSRI by 26 randomly-selected caregivers the following April. Children's academic success was measured by teacher's judgments as indicated on promotion lists at the end of kindergarten and report cards at the end of first and second grade, and by scores on several standardized tests. Results indicated an average correlation of 0.49 between scores on the CSRI and children's school performance through the end of second grade. Children whose CSRI scores were low were more likely to exhibit poor academic performance than were children whose CSRT scores were high. The participating children were students in 11 elementary public schools in London, Ontario. A list of 48 references is provided. (BC)