Adaptation of Kaufman Survey of Early Academic and Language Skills for 61-72 month old Turkish children within ankara sample

This study was conducted for the purpose of adaptation and administration of Kaufman Survey of Early Academic and Language Skills to 61-72 month-old Turkish preschoolers who were taken as samples for Ankara. These 61-72 month-old children who were attending to public kindergartens in districts of Ankara, namely Altındağ, Çankaya, Etimesgut, Keçiören and Yenimahalle in 2008-2009 academic year constituted the universe of this study which was characterized as a survey. The data were collected by random and stratified sampling among 423 children using ?Personal Information Questionnaire?, ?Kaufman Survey of Academic and Language Skills? and ?Early Learning Skills Scale? for determining similar scale validity.The data gathered through Kaufman Survey Early Academic and Language Skills were then used for determining validity and reliability. Having considered the results, some items lacking the ability to distinguish among individuals were crossed out. According to the confirmatory factor analysis, most of the items validated for one-dimensional factor structure of sub-tests of the test, scales and composite for Early Academic and Language Skills were found to represent in general the one-dimensional factor structure. In order to determine the reliability of the scores from Kaufman Survey of Early Academic and Language Skills, Kuder Richardson (KR-20) values were found to be .852 for Vocabulary, .982 for Numbers, Letters & Words, .913 for pronunciation, .953 for Expressive Language Skills, .948 for Receptive Language Skills, .957 for Number Skills, .978 for Letter & Word Skills and .972 for the composite for Early Academic and Language Skills. These high KR-20 values show high internal consistency for the test. According to these findings, scores of Kaufman Survey of Early Academic and Language Skills have been acknowledged as valid and reliable for 61-72 month-old children in Turkey.Keywords: Early Academic Skills, Language Skills