This meta-analysis examined the validity of an alternative to traditional assessments called the Wonderlic which is a brief measure of general mental ability. Our results showed significant, positive correlations between Wonderlic scores and academic performance in general ([r-bar] = 0.26), between Wonderlic scores and undergraduate GPA in…

In response to a call for research on using the SATs and ACTs for U.S.-based college and university admissions, researchers systematically interrogated the literature surrounding both tests, using a framework for validity evidence built upon the "Standards of Educational and Psychological Testing" and Kane's contemporary view of…

We analyze admissions and transcript records for students at multiple Ivy-Plus colleges to study the relationship between standardized (SAT/ACT) test scores, high school GPA, and first-year college grades. Standardized test scores predict academic outcomes with a normalized slope four times greater than that from high school GPA, all conditional…

Recent national research on the validity of the SAT shows that students with higher SAT scores are more likely to earn higher grades in college, and that SAT scores add about 15% more predictive power above high school grade point average (HSGPA) to estimate students' college performance (Westrick, Marini, Young, Ng, Shmueli, & Shaw, 2019).…

Cultural intelligence is one's ability to adapt when confronted with problems arising in interactions with people or artifacts of diverse cultures. In this study, we conduct an initial construct-validation and assessment of a maximum-performance test of cultural intelligence. We assess the psychometric properties of the test and also correlate the…

The purpose of this study is to understand how well the national SAT Validity Study results (Westrick et al., 2019), which is based on the entering class of 2017, generalize to other cohorts of students and how well the SAT predicts longer term outcomes beyond first-year grade point average (FYGPA) and second-year retention. Results show that the…

Fifteen years ago, Frey and Detterman established that the SAT (and later, with Koenig, the ACT) was substantially correlated with measures of general cognitive ability and could be used as a proxy measure for intelligence (Frey and Detterman, 2004; Koenig, Frey, and Detterman, 2008). Since that finding, replicated many times and cited extensively…

This study explored how the SAT and High School Grade Point Average (HSGPA) can work together to help institutions to confidently admit, place, and support students in their academic majors while promoting student opportunity and success as well as institutional health and success. In particular, this study examined the differential validity of…

This study provides an initial analysis of the validity of the SAT to predict the academic performance of students attending higher education institutions outside of the U.S. The results from these three institutions (located in India, Scotland [United Kingdom], and Lebanon, respectively) provide evidence that the SAT is indeed a strong predictor…

This article offers a critique of the validity argument put forward by Camara, Mattern, Croft, and Vispoel (2019) regarding the use of college-admissions tests in high school assessment systems. We challenge their argument in two main ways. First, we illustrate why their argument fails to address broader issues related to consequences of using…

Previous research has established that SAT scores and high school grade point average (HSGPA) differ in their predictive power and in the size of mean differences across racial/ethnic groups. However, the SAT is scaled nationally across all test takers while HSGPA is scaled locally within a school. In this study, the researchers propose that this…

Current measures of student success fall short in capturing the nuanced and multiplicitous ways that underrepresented and misrepresented students (e.g., Latinx, first-generation college students) who are navigating the intersection of multiple contexts important to their identities (e.g., home communities and university), define and understand…

Diagnostic tests for placing students into appropriate courses are commonly used in higher education math and science departments. We found no physics education research examining the validity of such exams, how well they are placing students into appropriate courses, and what guidance these exams can give for better focusing instruction. In this…

One of the major claims of the report of University of California's Task Force on Standardized Testing is that SAT and ACT scores are superior to high-school grades in predicting how students will perform at UC. This finding has been widely reported in the news media and cited in several editorials favoring UC's continued use of SAT/ACT scores in…

This pilot study examines digital SAT® score relationships with first-year college performance. Results show that digital SAT scores predict college performance as well as paper and pencil SAT scores, and that digital SAT scores meaningfully improve our understanding of a student's readiness for college above high school grade point average…