In recent years, several states and districts have implemented programs and policies that have sparked growth among high school students taking College-Level Examination Program® (CLEP® ) exams to earn college credits, with some states including CLEP in their K-12 accountability structures. In the 2018-19 school year, 22% of CLEP exams taken were…

In this study, we investigated whether preequating results agree with equating results that are based on observed operational data (postequating) for a college placement program. Specifically, we examined the degree to which item response theory (IRT) true score preequating results agreed with those from IRT true score postequating and from…

The College-Level Examination Program® (CLEP®) is a computer-based prior-learning assessment that allows examinees the opportunity to demonstrate mastery of knowledge and skills necessary to earn postsecondary course credit in higher education. Currently, there are 33 exams in five subject areas: composition and literature, world languages,…

Quantitative literacy has been recognized as an important skill in the higher education and workforce communities, focusing on problem solving, reasoning, and real-world application. As a result, there is a need by various stakeholders in higher education and workforce communities to evaluate whether college students receive sufficient training on…

Despite the growing use of writing assessments in standardized tests, little is known about coaching effects on writing assessments. Therefore, this study tested the effects of short-term coaching on standardized writing tests, and the transfer of those effects to other writing genres. College freshmen were randomly assigned to either training…

The Educational Testing Service (ETS) created the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) in 1965 and over the years it has become a staple of American higher education. In order to better understand the ramifications of the CLEP program, this article provides a brief history of CLEP and reexamines some of the findings of earlier research. The…

This report builds on and extends existent research on population invariance to new tests and issues. The authors lay the foundation for a deeper understanding of the use of population invariance measures in a wide variety of practical contexts. The invariance of linear, equipercentile and IRT equating methods are examined using data from five…