This study describes the development and validation of the Higher Education Student Engagement Scale (HESES). The psychometric evaluations of the scale included: (i) factor structure, (ii) internal consistency, and (iii) criterion validity. The HESES was developed based on our proposed five-factor model of student engagement, which was evolved…

Social and emotional (SE) skills are known to be linked with many important life outcomes, including academic performance, performance on standardized college entrance exams, and college enrollment, although research on enrollment is limited. In this report, the authors present data points from a study that evaluated test-criterion validity…

The "5Essentials Survey" is one of the few validated instruments to measure school climate. Schools that are strong in at least three of the five essential supports are up to 10 times more likely to experience substantial gains in students' math and reading scores. More than 6,000 schools nationwide have administered the…

This primer should provide the reader with a deeper understanding of the concept of test validity and will present the recent available validity evidence on the relationship between SAT® scores and important college outcomes. In addition, the content examined on the SAT will be discussed as well as the fundamental attention paid to the fairness of…

Against the backdrop of traditional measures of college readiness (i.e., high school GPA, standardized test scores, and high school rank), the consideration of "non-cognitive" factors marked a significant departure when they were first discussed as integral aspects of college success. Used to refer to any characteristic, ability or disposition…

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is a consortia of states that is developing a next-generation assessment system in English and math anchored in what it takes to be ready for college and careers. To accomplish this goal the consortia must determine whether individual students are college and career-ready,…

This article outlines shortcomings of currently used university admissions tests and discusses ways in which they could potentially be improved, summarizing two projects designed to enhance college and university admissions. The projects were inspired by the augmented theory of successful intelligence, according to which successful intelligence…

The Early Warning System is a tool developed by the National High School Center to collect data on indicators including attendance, grade point average, course failures, and credits earned. These indicators have been found to be highly predictive of a student's likelihood of dropping out of high school in large, urban areas. The Early Warning…

We examine the history of VMI's use of the Major Field Test as an assessment tool for its Department of Economics and Business. Further, we chronicle how the information gathered from a decade and a half of use has shaped the curriculum, faculty composition and policies within the Department. There is evidence that the policies surrounding how and…

SAT I: Reasoning Test scores, combined with high school grades, result in more accurate predictions of college success than either measure alone or any other combination of two measures. Overall, there is a strong positive relationship between high school grades and SAT. In 1990, ETS conducted a study of the characteristics of different students…

The Dental Aptitude Test (DAT) in Canada and the Dental Admission Test (DAT) in the United States are discussed. A history of the DAT, its composition, underlying concepts, and the problems of validation and guidelines for its uses are presented. A review of the literature is provided. (Author/MLW)

Summarizes the recent history of education reform and statewide testing in Texas. Suggest that analyses comparing Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) reading, writing, and mathematics scores with one another and relevant high school grades raise doubts about the reliability and validity of TAAS scores. Discusses these problems. (SLD)

This article describes the development and validation of a biographical data (biodata) measure and situational judgment inventory (SJI) as useful predictors of broadly defined college student performance outcomes. These measures provided incremental validity when considered in combination with standardized college-entrance tests (i.e., SAT/ACT)…

The report presents a summary of selected quantitative measures for August 1987 through July 1988 of students who applied for University of Florida graduate school admission, those who were accepted by academic departments, and those who subsequently enrolled. A brief introduction and listing of procedural assumptions precede the two figures and…

There is a strong and consistent relationship between PSAT/NMSQT scores and AP Examination grades for nearly all courses--higher scores on the PSAT/NMSQT indicate a higher probability of success on AP Examinations. PSAT/NMSQT verbal or mathematics scores are often more highly related to AP Examination grades than overall high school GPA, number of…