This article presents the author's rejoinder to thinking about linking from issue 8(1). Particularly within the more embracing linking frameworks, e.g., Holland & Dorans (2006) and Holland (2007), there appears to be a major disjunction between (1) classification discourse: the supposed basis for classification, that is, the underlying theory…

"Linking" is a term given to a general class of procedures by which one represents scores X on one test or measure in terms of scores Y on another test or measure. A recent taxonomy by Holland and Dorans (2006; Holland, 2007) organizes the various types of links into three broad categories: prediction, scale aligning, and equating. In…

This article is a response to Wainer's comments on a research study representing the first major analysis of factors linked to state differences in Scholastic Aptitude Test performance. (JAZ)

This table presents the 90th, 75th, 50th 25th and tenth percentile groupings for the verbal and mathematical scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) reported during the ten-year period between 1966-67 and 1975-76. A testing year is defined as extending from September to August; data are collected without regard to educational level or the…

This table provides the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the Achievement Test means and standard deviations for samples of candidates taking each of the 15 achievement tests offered in the Admissions Testing Program battery during the period 1966-67 to 1975-76. The samples, drawn annually through 1971-72 and biennially thereafter, provide…

Using research findings and statistics to support a policy argument often leads to misinterpretations and exaggerations of public school performance. Two experts illustrate this point by discussing examples of distorted high school drop-out rates, student performance on standardized tests, and international comparisons of U.S. and Japanese…

Presented at the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) in Kansas City in June 2007. This presentation explores what has been learned in the effort to maintain the ability to collect demographic information on SAT test takers when registration moved to the web. The information which is collected for research purposes include student's…

Thirty-two reports and publications pertaining to national declines in abilities and in test scores are cited, and most are annotated. These publications were issued between 1961 and 1976 and provided evidence considered by the Advisory Panel on the Scholastic Aptitude Test Score Decline. (Author/EVH)

There is no conclusive evidence as yet that television has provided sufficient cause for the decline in scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test and other measures of academic achievement or aptitude, although it may be one of several elements in a complex causal system. The major studies show that television viewing, after the early school years,…

To assess the stability of the Scholastic Aptitude Test verbal score scale SAT--V, 1963 and 1973 forms of the SAT--V were administered in counterbalanced order to spaced samples of the same group. The 1973 scores were placed on the reporting scale used for the 1963 form. The experimentally derived scores on the 1963 scale were compared with their…

Discussions of any test must focus on reliability, content validity, and interpretation of results. In this critique of On Further Examination--the report of the Advisory Panel on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) Score Decline--the National Education Association (NEA) finds no fault with the reliability of the SAT. Its content validity, however,…

The Ralph Nader report on the Educational Testing Service (ETS), entitled The Reign of ETS, the Corporation That Makes Up Minds, explicitly and implicitly raises serious issues concerning the testing enterprise. Major themes include the role of testing in the educational selection system, the validity of existing tests, and the corporate power of…

The history of test development and the current controversy over standardized testing are reviewed. The consequences of testing, particularly for minority groups, are outlined, and criticism of some viewpoints of professors Robert Ebel and Melvin Tumin is made. (Author/AL)

The scores of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) have been declining since 1963. While this decline has occurred, scores on achievement tests administered to students in grades 3 to 11 have been stable. An alalysis of the medical and epidemiological literature was conducted to determine whether there could be a health factor that might have caused…