by Kathy Chatham Stroud, PhD, and Cecil R. Reynolds, PhD
Qualification Level: B
Purpose: Provides a quick, cost-effective way to identify and target poor learning strategies that affect academic performance
Ages: 8 to 18 years for Child and Teen
Time: 20 to 30 minutes
Admin: Individual
Screen Individuals or Groups in Just 20 to 30 Minutes
Poor study skills, ineffective learning strategies, test anxiety—all of these things impede academic performance. The School Motivation and Learning Strategies Inventory (SMALSI) lets you identify and address these and other problems before students become discouraged, experience academic failure or drop out of school.
The SMALSI assesses 10 primary constructs consistently associated with academic motivation, learning strategies and study habits:
- Study Strategies
- Note-Taking/Listening Skills
- Reading/Comprehension Strategies
- Writing/Research Skills
- Test-Taking Strategies
- Organisational Techniques
- Time Management
- Academic Motivation
- Test Anxiety
- Concentration/Attention
Scores from these scales pinpoint problems that interfere with academic performance.
The SMALSI is available in two forms. The Child Form (147 items) is for students 8 through 12 years of age. The Teen Form (170 items) is for 13- to 18-year-olds. Written at an 8-year reading level and completed in 20 to 30 minutes, all forms use a 4-point response scale, ranging from “Never” to “Almost Always.” The Child and Teen Forms can be administered using an audio CD that allows poor readers, who are often at risk for academic failure, to hear rather than read test items. These forms also offer an unlimited-use scoring CD for efficient, cost-effective screening of large school populations.
Unlike many other measures, the SMALSI does not focus on learning styles or preferences. Instead, it assesses the strategies that students actively use in learning and test-taking—strategies repeatedly shown to affect academic performance. This practical, specific focus makes the SMALSI ideal for both routine school-wide screening and targeted assessment of students with ADHD, learning disabilities, low motivation or emotional problems. Based on more than 30 years of research, the SMALSI allows you to identify and directly target poor learning strategies. It makes early intervention possible and it gives students at all levels a better shot at academic success.
