Walker-McConnell Scale of Social Competence and School Adjustment (WMS)

Duerr Evaluation Resources is pleased to announce our partnership with Dr. Hill Walker, co-developer and owner of the 43-item Walker-McConnell Scale of Social Competence and School Adjustment (WMS). This short survey has both elementary grade and adolescent age versions, and has now recently found success in the evaluation of preschool programs with four year olds. The WMS relies on teacher ratings of the frequency with which social and school readiness skills are present for their students. All items in the scale are positively worded and result in several useful subscale scores.

The Elementary Version of the WMS has an extensive history in the 12-year evaluation of the California Department of Mental Health’s Early Mental Health Initiative program. Used in a pre and post-program design, the WMS has been essential in demonstrating the effectiveness of this program with moderately large effect sizes. To date, the scale as been used in over 2,000 schools and with over 250,000 students.

Dr. Walker and his team developed a shorter version of the WMS which utilizes 19 of the original 43 items, while still retaining the original subscales. Duerr Evaluation has been instrumental in expanding the use of this subscale, and recently determined that the shorter version explains 96 percent of the variance in the original, making this the obvious choice for programs which want to reduce the rating task for teachers. Tests show this version is completed in about 3-5 minutes, so a typical classroom of children can be rated in about an hour.

DER offers great flexibility and service regarding the Walker scales.

• Purchase our full-service Evaluation Option which includes (1) optical scan sheets for screening, pre-post assessment, and service description, (2) scanning of the completed forms, and (3) full reporting services including both individual student-level results and a full color, comprehensive site-level report which includes color graphic transparencies!
• Purchase just the scan forms and score them yourself.
• Purchase a license to reproduce the forms.

Contact Christine Fetherstonhaugh at Christine@duerrevaluation.com.