Many individuals who attempt to enter teacher education programs are precluded from doing so because of an inability to pass basic skills tests. The authors examine whether these tests are simply a gate that needs to be passed through or whether they provide useful early information about how individuals are likely to perform on subsequent…

The authors investigated the extent to which taking specific types of Advanced Placement (AP) courses and the number of courses taken predicts the likelihood of passing subject benchmarks and earning a score of 19 on the composite score on the ACT test, and examined the role gender plays in the projection. They found evidence that taking an AP…

A longitudinal evaluation of the utility of a screening battery administered in kindergarten is shown to retain a high utility for predicting current achievement outcomes of the sample at the end of grade six. The use of discriminant functional analysis and statistical decision theory is discussed. (Author/CM)

The purpose of this study was to develop a screening procedure for undergraduate pilot training (UPT). This procedure was based upon the use of ground-based instrument trainers in which UPT candidates, naive to flying, were evaluated in their performance of job sample tasks; i.e., basic instrument flying. Training and testing sessions were…

Assesses the accuracy of Riverside Community College's entry-level assessment and placement practice, correlating reading and language assessment scores with grades in freshman composition and student demographics. Concludes that ASSET test scores alone were not strong predictors of student success and other data sources should be considered as…

Describes a study examining the usefulness of both comprehensive assessment models (utilizing computerized placement tests, high school grade point averages [GPAs] and rank, and student characteristics) and reduced models for predicting community college GPA. Suggests that comprehensive measures, including both academic and nonacademic variables,…

In 1987, Santa Barbara City College, California, received a grant to develop valid and culturally fair assessment procedures for placing students into appropriate level courses. Specifically, the project sought to: (1) determine faculty and student perceptions of the skills needed to succeed in entry-level college classes; (2) examine the…

A study was made to ascertain how large a sample is needed to make media effectiveness decisions which are generalizable to the total educable mentally handicapped (EMH) population. The method employed in the study involved pretesting and posttesting a sample of 70 primary and intermediate EMH children on the content of a filmstrip. Statistical…

Empirical Bayes methods are shown to provide a practical alternative to standard least squares methods in fitting high dimensional models to sparse data. An example concerning prediction bias in educational testing is presented as an illustration. (Author)

A study evaluated different approaches to placing students in adult literacy classes using 168 adult basic education (ABE) and General Educational Development (GED) students. Students in classes at Rochambeau School in White Plains, New York, were given the Tests of Adult Basic Education (TABE), the Tests of Adult Literacy Skills (TALS), an oral…

Describes a study of basic skills testing in mathematics and reading. Examines the relationships between mathematics course performance and class standing, gender, age, transfer status, and math Scholastic Assessment Tests (SAT) scores; and reading course performance and verbal SAT, Nelson Denny Reading Test, and Degrees of Reading Power Test…

A four-part study was undertaken at Virginia Western Community College to determine the effectiveness of using the Cooperative English Expression Tests (CEET) and/or high school English grades to place students in English 111 (Eng 111) or Developmental English 01 (Dev Eng 01). During Winter 1976, all students (N=110) enrolled in Dev Eng 01 were…

During spring and fall 1985, a study was conducted at Cosumnes River College (CRC) to determine how assessment testing scores related to student persistence and performance. The student history files of a random sample of 498 students who had been tested by the CRC Assessment Center during spring and fall 1985 were examined, yielding the following…

Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) validity data on disabled students were obtained from 145 institutions with validity data on nonhandicapped students. First year grade point averages (FYAs) were obtained for almost 1,000 disabled students who had taken special test administrations of the SAT with extra time and for more than 650 disabled students…

The score distributions of the two methods of administration described in the title revealed comparable means, standard deviations, and general shape of distribution. With respect to validity coefficients, no appreciable differences were found. (JKS)