THIS STUDY ATTEMPTED TO DEVELOP A GROUP TEST OF GENERAL ABILITY WHICH WILL ACCURATELY ASSESS THE INTELLECTUAL CAPACITIES OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY STUDENTS IN THE PUERTO RICAN SCHOOLS. THE OBJECTIVES WERE--(1) TO DETERMINE WHAT COMMON INTELLECTUAL TASKS INDICATE MENTAL ABILITY IN SPANISH-SPEAKING PUERTO RICAN AND OTHER ENGLISH-SPEAKING AMERICAN CHILDREN, AND (2) TO ASCERTAIN WHAT CULTURAL DIFFERENCES INFLUENCE INTELLIGENCE TEST SCORES TO DISTORT RESULTS IN FAVOR OF OR AGAINST SPANISH-SPEAKING PUERTO RICAN CHILDREN. THE FIRST STEP WAS A SURVEY AND ANALYSIS OF PUBLISHED TESTS OF INTELLIGENCE AND OF THE LITERATURE IN THE FIELD TO ASCERTAIN THE COMMON FACTORS GENERALLY INCLUDED IN TESTS OF INTELLIGENCE. A POOL OF TEST ITEMS MEASURING DIFFERENT ABILITIES AT DIFFERENT GRADE LEVELS WAS PREPARED. THESE ITEMS WERE TRIED OUT FOR VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY, AND SOME WERE SELECTED FOR CONSTRUCTION OF A PROVISIONAL SCALE. A SECOND ITEM SAMPLE INCLUDED AT LEAST 500 CHILDREN FROM PRIMARY, INTERMEDIATE, AND ADVANCED GRADE LEVELS SELECTED ON THE BASIS OF NORMAL AGE AND AVERAGE ACHIEVEMENT FOR THE GRADE. THE SCHOOLS WERE SELECTED AT RANDOM FROM THE FOUR GEOGRAPHICAL REGIONS IN PUERTO RICO. A BALANCED SELECTION OF BOYS AND GIRLS FROM SMALL, MEDIUM, AND LARGE COMMUNITIES WAS USED. IN VIEW OF THE RESULTS OBTAINED BY COMPARING THE PERFORMANCE OF PUERTO RICAN CHILDREN IN NEW YORK SCHOOLS AND THE CHILDREN IN PUERTO RICO, WHERE THERE WERE SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN FAVOR OF THE LATTER AT ALL THREE LEVELS OF THE EXPERIMENTAL EDITION OF THE TEST, IT IS CONSIDERED ADVISABLE TO MAKE ANOTHER COMPARISON USING THE FINAL EDITION OF THE TEST WITH A MORE REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE FROM NEW YORK. (GC)