The predictive validity of the Graduate Record Examinations Aptitude Test, Verbal and Quantitative scores and undergraduate grade-point average were examined. Criterion variables consisted of graduate grade-point average, the Master's Comprehensive Examination scores and grades in individual required courses. Findings stress need for local…

The present study examined and evaluated the application of linear policy-capturing models to the real-world decision task of graduate admissions. Utility of the policy-capturing models was great enough to be of practical significance, and least-squares weights showed no predictive advantage over equal weights. (Author/CTM)

Grades in a college freshman course in finite mathematics were predicted from IQ, high school math grades, college board scores, and high school class ranks. The squared multiple correlation for the full model was .611. (JKS)

The cloze procedure, an established measure of reading achievement, requires language and reading skills not yet available to elementary school English-second-language pupils who are not literate in their vernacular. A modified cloze procedure, designed to overcome this problem, was found to correlate with traditional vocabulary and reading…

Results varied as a function of : (1) type of task (transfer, paired associate, or visual discrimination); (2) student age (kindergarten, first grade, or college); (3) stimuli size; and (4) number of response indicators. Research findings cannot be generalized from artificial orthographies to the English alphabet or from various aged subjects to…

Three measures of field dependence were used to determine whether: (1) Mexican American students are more field dependent than Anglo Americans; (2) intercorrelations between the tests are significant and comparable for both cultures; and (3) field dependence significantly affects academic performance. These assumptions were generally not…

Pretraining on test-taking strategies improved the reliability and predictive power of the Arithmetic Reasoning Test for seventh-grade Chicano students but not for non-Chicano students. Pretraining did not improve the reliability of the Missing Words Test for either group, but appears to have improved the predictive power of this test for both…

A comparison of two forms of the College Entrance Examination Board's (CEEB) English Composition Test with four rhetoric final examinations in a basic English composition course indicated that the CEEB was more stable and yielded better item statistics while departmental examinations were more highly related to course grade. (Editor/JT)

Examined the Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning (DIAL) with regard to its effectiveness in predicting school success as determined by subjects' (N=245) first-grade performance on the California Achievement Test (CAT). Found the DIAL concepts subtest to be the most valid single predictor. (Author/ABB)

Reports on a study conducted to assess the effect of a reduction of tuition in the Virginia community college system on enrollments during fall 1986, contrasting state figures with national trends. Presents survey results, enrollment trends, results of interviews with students, faculty, and employers, and data on unemployment. (AYC)

Forty learning-disabled fourth graders learned to use a spelling study strategy, studied words under varying conditions, and predicted their scores on a subsequent test. Results indicated that, even without inclusion of specific metacognitive training components, strategy training produced important metacognitive improvement and that metacognitive…

This study evaluated the diagnostic validity of a task measuring abstract categorization ability in learning disabled (LD) and non-LD children. Data showed that the component of abstract category knowledge that best disciminates LD children from non-LD, is the knowledge of how members of abstract categories differ from each other. (Author/JAZ)

Summarizes trends in competency testing for teachers in the United States. Points out the strong public support for this testing and the problems with predicting teaching success from test results. Concludes that teacher competency testing in Canada, currently less prevalent than in the United States, will increase dramatically. (JHZ)

A study that addressed the question of whether coaching for the MCAT biases the relationship between test performance and medical school performance is described. The criterion used was whether or not a student experienced academic problems in medical school. (MLW)

Examined Estimated Learning Potential (ELP) and IQ scores as predictors of learning task performance in 31 Black and 32 White educable mentally retarded children. ELP did not correlate more highly with performance than did IQ score, yet ELP may be more differentially sensitive to declassifying Blacks as retarded. (NRB)