ound that transition programs must be established in order to prepare such students to enter adult society successfully. Bullis, Nishioka-Evans, Fredericks, and Davis (1993) identified emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) as an under-studied form of such disabilities, and called for further study of the problem. Bullis, with another team (Bullis, Bull, Johnson, & Johnson, 1994), endeavored to modify the original TCSK for this purpose, following the behavioral analytical model of test development prescribed by Goldfried & D'Zurilla (1969).
The original instrument was meant for the assessment of the social skills of adolescents, and as such was tested on a population of youths. However, the tests were conducted in a limited area of the Midwest and included small sample sizes. The updated version examined social skills of both adolescents and young adults. It was tested in four sites representing both urban and rural schools. Between 10 and 24 students at each site participating, for a total sample of 59. 43 of the participants were boys, 16 were girls. The parents of each child were fully informed about the nature of the research project and gave their consent. Each family was paid for their participation (Bullis, Bull, Johnson, & Johnson, 1994, p. 3).
The instrument consists of 68 vignettes describing various social situations. The vignettes are read aloud by a trained interviewer, and the subjects are asked to choose from among four response alternatives. If necessary, the vignettes and the response options were repeated. Of the four options, one was deemed an "effective" response and scored +2; one was deemed "fairly effective" and scored +1, while the remaining two were deemed "ineffective" and scored 0 (p. 6). This is an ordinal level of measurement and seems appropriate to the test. Completion of the test took from 60 to 90 minutes, and a break was taken half way through the instrument (pp. 6-7). In
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