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Objective: To examine the accuracy of a short version of the International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) in predicting caries treatment need for children. Methods: The study is a validation study using data from three previously published cross‐sectional studies. Participants were children with different dentitions from Kuwait, Brazil, and Spain. Children were clinically examined using ICDAS criteria. Children were classified into preventive, non‐operative, and operative categories. Sensitivity and specificity, predictive values, likelihood ratios, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were used to measure the discriminative and diagnostic accuracy of the proposed short version of ICDAS compared to the full ICDAS. Results: Clinical dental examination data from a total of 3076 children aged 1–15 years were used. The proposed short ICDAS and the full ICDAS showed a very good agreement on caries treatment need determination with Kappa scores of more than 0.833 in all dentitions. The short ICDAS showed excellent operating characteristics in all dentitions. The area under the ROC was more than 90% in primary dentition, 89% in permanent dentition, and 86% in mixed dentition in different populations. Lowest area under ROC and sensitivity values were observed when discriminating between non‐operative and operative treatment categories. Conclusions: The proposed short version of the ICDAS showed good diagnostic accuracy in classifying children according to their caries treatment need. By reducing the number of surfaces examined and the time needed for clinical assessment, the short version of the ICDAS is a convenient alternative to the full ICDAS to be used in community settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]