Retooling Education: Testing and the Liberal Arts

The motivation and methodology for measuring intelligence have changed repeatedly in the modern history of large-scale student testing. Test makers have always sought to identify raw aptitude for cultivation, but they have never figured out how to promote excellence while preserving equality. They’ve settled for egalitarianism, which gives rise to “culturally fair” tests that substitute vagaries for knowledge, deprive students of any real appreciation for language, and trivialize education. Robert Jackson yearns for traditional oratorical approaches to schooling that venerate and imitate essential, time-tested masters. Unfortunately, he writes, such an education defies measurement with today’s multiple-choice instruments.

Effects of curricular emphasis in college on the GRE and its impact on the gender gap in performance

Previous research has indicated positive relations between a curricular emphasis during college and improvements in GRE performance for content that matches that emphasis. However, measurement issues and a lack of a theoretical approach have contributed to a lack of precision and detail in the estimates of the relation between college experiences and performance for relevant content. In the current study, we hypothesized that differences in training between students majoring in math related majors and students majoring in reading and writing related majors would be differentially related to the size of the changes on GRE performance. Further, we hypothesized the gender gap in GRE-Quant performance would be reduced when the higher likelihood of males majoring in math related majors was modelled. The expert performance approach was used to develop three path models (including curricular emphasis, college grade performance, previous performance on the SAT, and gender) to compare the effects of the relation of a curricular emphasis in math on GRE-Quant performance to the effects of the relation of an emphasis in reading and writing on GRE-Verbal performance. The results indicated support for our predictions that a math course emphasis was related to larger GRE performance gains and that gender differences in curricular emphasis during college partially mediated the large gender gap in GRE-Quant performance. Additionally, higher grade performance average was found to positively predict GRE performance with college experiences and previous performance statistically controlled. Implications for the relation between training accrued during college courses and changes in GRE performance are discussed.     

Within‐High‐School Versus Across‐High‐School Scaling of Admissions Assessments: Implications for Validity and Diversity Effects

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 difference in how SAT scores and HSGPA are scaled partially explains differences in validity and subgroup differences. Using a large data set consisting of 170,390 students each of whom matriculated at one of 114 separate colleges, the researchers find that awarding SAT scores by ranking SAT within a high school generally results in substantial reduction in the size of subgroup mean differences for this predictor. However, validity for predicting first‐year GPA is also reduced by a small amount. Conversely, placing HSGPA onto a nationally normed metric through the use of multiple regression procedures results in a moderate increase in the size of subgroup mean differences, while also producing a small increase in validity. Taken together, these findings suggest that differences in predictor scaling can partially explain differences in the size of subgroup mean differences between HSGPA and SAT scores and have implications for predictive power.     

Substituting SAT II: Subject Tests for SAT I: Reasoning Tests: Impact on Admitted Class Composition and Quality

Using data from a sample of 10 colleges at which most students had taken both SAT I: Reasoning tests and SAT II: Subject tests, we simulated the effects of making selection decisions using SAT II scores in place of SAT I scores. Specifically, we treated the students in each college as forming the applicant pool for a more select college, and then selected the top two thirds (and top one third) of the students using high school grade point average combined with either SAT I scores or the average of SAT II scores. Success rates, in terms of first-year grade point averages, were virtually identical for students selected by the different models. The percentage of African American, Asian American, and White students selected varied only slightly across models. Appreciably more Mexican American and Other Latino students were selected with the model that used SAT II scores in place of SAT I scores because these students submitted subject test scores for the Spanish test on which they had high scores.     

与时俱进:美国新SAT及其运行情况述评

为适应新形势需要,美国大学董事会推出的新SAT,增加了写作部分,其他部分也相应做了微调,运行两年来情况良好,当然也出现了考生平均成绩持续下降、影响高中教学质量等问题。这些新情况必须引起我们的足够重视。     

支架理论在SAT写作教学中的应用

SAT考试是中国高中生留学美国,获得奖学金的重要考试。然而其写作部分是多数学生面临的困境。运用支架理论于这一特殊的写作教学中,能够改进教学方法,提高学生的书面表达能力。     

基于ISD／SAT过程的成人教育网络课程开发系统研究

教学系统开发／系统化培训方法（ISD／SAT）是美军军事训练教学系统采办指导手册的核心内容,用于指导教学和教学资源的分析、设计、开发、实施和评估。本文简要介绍并分析了ISD／SAT过程、工作模型及其特点,提出了由规划、分析、设计、制作、传递和评估六阶段组成的一个完整的成人教育网络课程开发系统,并对各阶段所涉及到的任务、人员及阶段成果进行了详细的阐述。     

体育中考制度对学校体育的影响及对策研究

运用辩证观点分析体育中考制度对学校体育的积极影响和消极影响,并针对消极影响提出了完善中考制度,抓好体育工作,加强体育教师队伍建设等对策。     

性别和种族对美国SAT考试成绩影响的定量分析

SAT(Scholastic Assessment Test)作为美国目前广为接受的大学入学考试,其公平性一直遭受质疑,尤其是在性别、种族等敏感领域。基于美国某高中学生的SAT数据,运用最小二乘估计法,建立了关于SAT考试成绩的单方程线性回归模型。回归结果显示在保持模型中其他因素不变的情况下,SAT考试的确存在性别和种族歧视,且性别对成绩的影响要大于种族对成绩的影响。最后结合2016年SAT考试的公平性改革,探究SAT的未来发展方向及对我国新高考改革的借鉴。