This causal-comparative quantitative study compares mean scores on the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) between Classical Christian schools and non-Classical Christian schools using data randomly selected from survey responses. The sample consisted of 4,486 mean scores from the 2003-2004 school year through 2012-2013. Welch's t-tests…

Economists often use test scores to measure a student's performance or an adult's human capital. These scores reflect non-trivial decisions about how to measure and scale student achievement, with important implications for secondary analyses. For example, the scores computed in several major testing regimes, including the National Assessment of…

The prevalence of homeschooling in the United States is increasing. Yet little is known about how commonly used predictors of postsecondary academic performance (SAT, high school grade point average [HSGPA]) perform for homeschooled students. Postsecondary performance at 140 colleges and universities was analyzed comparing a sample of traditional…

This article is concerned with developing a measure of general academic ability (GAA) for high school graduates who apply to colleges, as well as with the identification of optimal weights of the GAA indicators in a linear combination that yields a composite score with maximal reliability and maximal predictive validity, employing the framework of…

Mathematics anxiety typically involves apprehension toward activities that require computation, which can lead to complications in every-day-life activities (Ashcraft, 2002). Mathematics anxiety also has become accepted as an issue associated with academic success for both children and adults (Ashcraft, 2002; Ashcraft & Moore, 2009; Beilock,…

Knowing what skills underlie college success can allow students, teachers, and universities to identify and to help at-risk students. One skill that may underlie success across a variety of subject areas is structure building, the ability to create mental representations of narratives (Gernsbacher, Varner, & Faust, 1990). We tested if…

This study examined how gender; race/ethnicity; language; socioeconomic status; California Standards Test (CST) scores in mathematics, science, and ELA; and California High School Exit Exam mathematics predict college-ready results on the Early Assessment Program (EAP) in mathematics in urban areas of southern California. Approximately 1,700 high…

College student success and graduation are important to students seeking a degree and to the nation's communities (Institute for Higher Education Policy, 1998), yet only just better than half of the students who enroll in 4-year colleges and universities will receive a bachelor's degree within 6 years (Astin, 1985). Past studies have shown that…

Scope and Method of Study: This study focused on the development and use of the AT-SAT test battery and the Initial En Route Qualification training course for the selection, training, and evaluation of air traffic controller candidates. The Pearson product moment correlation coefficient was used to measure the linear relationship between the…

Although much educational research has investigated the relative effectiveness of different educational interventions and policies, little is known about the absolute net benefits of K-12 schooling independent of growth due to chronological age and out-of-school experience. The nearly universal policy of age tracking in schools makes this a…

In Philip Pullman's dark matter sci-fi trilogy, there is a golden compass that in the hands of the right person is predictively powerful; the same was supposed to be true of the SAT/ACT--the statistically indistinguishable standardized tests for college admissions. They were intended to be reliable mechanisms for identifying future trajectories,…

The Major Field Test in Business (MFT-B) is a widely used end-of-program assessment tool; however, several challenges arise when using the test in this capacity. Changing student demographics and the lack of a statistical framework are two of the most vexing issues confronting educators when using the MFT-B for programmatic assessment. The authors…

The purpose of this study was to determine if the four assessments for entrance into an academic middle school gifted English program were accurately predicting success, as measured by students' grades each nine-week grading period. Some students were dismissed from the program each year because they could not maintain the required minimum average…

Issues of equity and fairness across subgroups of the population (e.g., gender or ethnicity) must be seriously considered in any standardized testing program. For this reason, many testing programs require some means for assessing test characteristics, such as reliability, for subgroups of the population. However, often only small sample sizes are…

[Slides] presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in 2009. This study investigated the presence of a general rise in high school grades without a corresponding rise in SAT scores, as well as different grading criteria between schools, as shown by differential relationships between AP course grades and exam scores. These…