Multi-Informant Assessment of High-Achieving Students’ Behavioral and Emotional Strengths

Multi-informants, such as parents and teachers, are commonly considered as resources when evaluating students’ emotional and behavioral skills. This research aimed to examine the factor structure comparability between an Arabic version of the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale–Second Edition (BERS–2) and the scale’s original version. A related purpose was to explore whether the informants’ responses support the invariance of factor loadings associated with teachers and parents. A total of 907 parents and teachers of high-achieving students, randomly selected from five governorates in Oman, completed the BERS–2. Results revealed that factor variance, factor loadings, and item intercepts are almost equal across informants. However, while the results suggested an acceptable comparison of factor mean difference among the informants, mean subscale scores were significantly lower in parents than in teachers. The results warrant the need to address issues related to cross-cultural validation when translating instruments into other cultures. Also, the study results inform practitioners about the important role of cross-informant ratings in assessing high-achieving students’ behavioral strengths.