A STUDY EXAMINED THE VALIDITY OF TWO BRIEF INTELLIGENCE SCALES, THE PEABODY PICTURE VOCABULARY TEST (PPVT) AND THE COLUMBIA MENTAL MATURITY SCALE (CMMS), TO SEE IF THESE TESTS OVERESTIMATED THE INCIDENCE OF INTELLECTUAL RETARDATION AMONG POVERTY AREA CHILDREN. THESE TWO TESTS AND AN EXPERIMENTAL MEASURE OF INTELLIGENCE, THE JOHNS HOPKINS PERCEPTUAL TEST (JHPT), HAD BEEN GIVEN TO 28 KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN. A SIGNIFICANTLY LESS RETARDATION INCIDENCE WAS FOUND WITH THE JHPT. ACTUAL PERCENTAGES WERE 69.56 ON THE PPVT, 17.86 ON THE CMMS, AND 3.57 ON THE JHPT. THEREFORE, AS A CRITERION MEASURE, THE STANFORD-BINET WAS ADMINISTERED TO EACH CHILD. IT WAS FOUND THAT THE CHILDREN TESTED ON A MUCH HIGHER LEVEL OF INTELLIGENCE THAN REPORTED ON THE PPVT AND CMMS, ALTHOUGH THE CMMS EXAGGERATED LESS THE DEGREE OF RETARDATION. IN THE SAME SCHOOL, A SAMPLE OF FIRST GRADE CHILDREN REPRESENTING AN ENTIRE KINDERGARTEN CLASS OF THE PREVIOUS YEAR WAS GIVEN THE PPVT, CCMS, AND THE STANDFORD-BINET. TWENTY-NINE CHILDREN PARTICIPATED. IT WAS FOUND THAT THE PPVT STILL UNDERESTIMATED INTELLIGENCE TO A STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT DEGREE. THE MEAN IQ SCORE INCREASED 18.86 POINTS ON PPVT PERFORMANCE, INDICATING THE INFLUENCE OF EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE. ALTHOUGH THE STANFORD-BINET STILL PLACED ALL CHILDREN IN THE NONRETARDED CATEGORY, THE PPVT RATED 24.14 PER CENT AND THE CMMS SCALE, 10.34 PER CENT AS RETARDED. A BRIEF CULTURE-FAIR SCREENING MEASURE IS NEEDED. (MS)