This report examines the value of SAT scores for determining merit-based scholarship decisions as well as admission to highly selective academic programs such as honors programs or colleges. Results show that the SAT is a highly effective tool for predicting students' chances of earning a first-year grade point average (FYGPA) of 3.00 or higher…

The value of a college degree continues to rise. A bachelor's degree in particular provides unrivaled economic and health benefits not just for the individual earning the degree, but for the entire state. Therefore, it is not surprising to see growing demand for a college education coupled with growing eligibility for California's public…

Do "no excuses" charter high schools merely help students succeed on standardized tests? Are their students more likely to succeed after they leave school behind? Is it test prep, or true learning? Little prior research is available on this question. Although there is a robust positive correlation between test performance and college…

The current study examined the validity of the selection process used for the National Merit Scholarship Program (NMSP) to identify scholarship winners. Namely, this study examined whether students who advanced to higher NMSP recognition levels (Commended Students, Semifinalists, and various levels of award winners) had higher college performance,…

The development of the University of Washington freshman Admission Index (AI) is reviewed. The AI is a weighted linear combination of a student's overall high school grade point average and test scores from a standard college entrance examination of the verbal-quantitative type. The existing equation for computation of the AI using the Washington…

Differential grading standards were examined in a sample of 1,029 Dartmouth College graduates. Fields of study that attracted students (as majors) who scored higher on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) employed stricter grading standards. These differential standards attenuated the substantial correlation between SAT scores and grades.…

Included are three studies, each dealing with an aspect of comparative validity of the American College Test (ACT) and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) at selective colleges. The first study considered the predictive efficiency of the ACT test scores and ACT test scores plus high school grades at 120 colleges, separated into three groups…

Bowdoin College has allowed applicants to submit or withhold SAT scores since 1970. Admissions operations under this policy are reviewed. The validity of the SAT is evaluated, and the academic records of matriculated submitters are compared with the withholders. (Author/MLW)

The contemporary problem of culture-fair selection exists largely because currently used predictors provide only weak prediction of college success. The Scholastic Aptitude Test may add little to the validity of High School Grade Point Average as a predictor of Grade Point Average. When this occurs for ethnic minorities who score low on the SAT,…

Each year high school students match wits with the Scholastic Aptitude Tests. The results help determine who gets into the most selective colleges. The tests are the subject of a growing debate. This article examines possible bias and its effects. (Author/JAC)

Institutional averages of entering freshman scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Test (ACT) were combined and edited to produce a single institutional measure of selectivity for 2,601 institutions. Correlations were made between scores and 19 institutional attributes. (Editor/LBH)

Assessment programs like the American College Test (ACT) and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) continue to play an important role in the admission decisions of many colleges. In many cases, they also serve a meaningful counseling and guidance function for high schools and colleges. The data reported in this paper suggest that the two programs can…

Presents brief history, written for school counselors, on entrance examinations used in college and university admission procedures, noting use of such examinations as early as fourteenth century. Discusses College Entrance Examination Board, Scholastic Aptitude Test, multiple-choice versus essay tests, score distributions, American College…

This paper describes several situations in which generalization of statistical results is not possible by representative sampling but which is attempted using corrections for selection of groups. The situations include hiring, admissions, differential classification, guidance, test score equating, and test score scaling. Evidence of inaccuracies…

Selectivity is criticized as an index of college quality. Standardized college entrance examination scores can at best reflect college quality, it is proposed. In addition, using them as a measure of college quality assumes, perhaps erroneously, that the college admits only the highest-scoring applicants. Further reasons are these: (1) SAT scores…