Scores from the "GRE"® revised General Test provide important information regarding the verbal and quantitative reasoning abilities and analytical writing skills of applicants to graduate programs. The validity and utility of these scores depend upon the degree to which the scores predict success in graduate and business school in…

"High Schools That Work" (HSTW) is a school improvement initiative that was inaugurated by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) in 1987. The main purpose of this concurrent validity study is to evaluate one or more measures by investigating their relationship to other commonly used and established measures given at or about the…

Predictive validity of preadmissions measures may be understated because of correctable defects in freshman year and cumulative high school grade point averages (GPAs). A study used item response theory (IRT) to develop a more reliable measure of performance and test it using Stanford University data. Results showed increased predictability.…

Using an adjusted cumulative grade point average (GPA), the item response theory-based GPA improved the predictability of college performance for ethnic minorities according to some statistical criteria but was found equivalent to cumulative GPA for others. The population was 1,462 college freshmen from 4 ethnic groups. (SLD)

The development of a valid measure of academic performance through the application of existing statistical methodology in a new manner was studied. Focus was on analyzing the predictive validity of traditional pre-admissions measures in determining overall academic performance in college. This new criterion, termed a Universal Scale for Grades, is…

A new measure of academic performance was developed through a new application of item response theory (IRT). This new criterion, an IRT-based grade point average (GPA), was used to determine the predictive validity of certain preadmissions measures for 1,564 students admitted to Stanford University in 1982. (SLD)

Computed measure of average academic rigor of student's high school program from high school transcripts and used measure as supplemental predictor to Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores and high school rank in class. Data from two cohorts of college graduates revealed new measure was superior to SAT scores and rank in class in predicting…

A general linear model (GLM), using least-squares techniques, was used to develop a criterion measure to replace freshman year grade point average (GPA) in college admission predictive validity studies. Problems with the use of GPA include those associated with the combination of grades from different courses and disciplines into a single measure,…

Item response theory (IRT) is used to develop a form of adjusted cumulative grade point average (GPA) for use in predicting college academic performance appropriately for males and females. For 1,564 students at Stanford University (California), the IRT-based GPA was more predictable from preadmission measures than the cumulative GPA. (SLD)

Research in the area of grade adjustment methods from the last 27 years is reviewed in the context of admissions selection and of prediction of student performance in college. Contemporary grade adjustment methods can often produce indexes of academic performance with greater reliability than that found with grade point average. (SLD)

Uses the general linear model to develop an adjusted cumulative grade point average (GPA) that systematically models grading effects among courses. A validation study using 778 courses of 1,564 Stanford (California) University students shows an increase in predictability of the adjusted least-squares GPA over the unadjusted GPA. (SLD)

This research report is a review and analysis of all of the published studies during the past 25+ years (since 1974) in the area of differential validity/prediction and college admission testing. More specifically, this report includes 49 separate studies of differences in validity and/or prediction for different racial/ethnic groups and/or for…