The preschool years are a critical time to identify and treat early emotional or behavioral problems. Universal screening can be used to identify emotional and behavioral risk in preschoolers and fits well within current service delivery frameworks. This criterion-related validity study examined the use of a brief teacher-rated screener, the Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BESS Preschool) in a sample of 65 preschool-age students from a predominately Latino/a background. Findings suggest that screening results from the BESS Preschool are highly correlated with important outcomes, including kindergarten readiness, receptive vocabulary, and social emotional development. (author abstract)