This primer should provide the reader with a deeper understanding of the concept of test validity and will present the recent available validity evidence on the relationship between SAT® scores and important college outcomes. In addition, the content examined on the SAT will be discussed as well as the fundamental attention paid to the fairness of…

This study investigated whether the constant decline in Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) mathematics scores since 1963 reflected a decrease in student mathematical ability or the SAT's inadequacy in measuring mathematical ability. Findings indicated a very low correlation between SAT math scores and overall college math grades of six graduating…

Discusses use of item banks in preparing local tests, using as an example the construction of a college mathematics placement test. Compares recommended placements with course results at the end of the quarter. Students who placed themselves above recommendation did better than expected, perhaps because of strong self-selection factors. (PAS)

The New Jersey College Basic Skills Placement Test (NJCBSPT) is designed to measure certain basic language and mathematics skills of students entering New Jersey colleges. The primary purpose of the two mathematics sections is to determine whether students are prepared to begin certain college-level work without a handicap in computation or…

This report presents the major available evidence to date on the validity of the New Jersey College Basic Skills Placement Test (NJCBSPT). The findings are as follows: (1) results of two content-validity questionnaires show New Jersey college instructors to be in general agreement that the test content is appropriate and important to assess; (2)…

Describes research on the development of a measure of student metacognition. The brief, domain-independent measure serves as a collateral measure in construct validation, supporting exploration of the self-regulatory demands of performance assessment. Results show that metacognition can be directly and explicitly measured in the context of…

Four studies are reported that used a metacognitive evaluation procedure that can be group-administered and objectively scored. The procedure assesses the knowledge monitoring component of metacognition by evaluating the discrepancy between students' estimates of how well they are likely to perform on a task and their actual performance. The first…