Educational Histories and Academic Potential: can tests deliver?

Matriculation results for applicants from the turbulent and under‐resourced South African Department of Education and Training system have consistently proved to be an unreliable indicator of future academic performance, particularly in the lower pass ranges. While urgent attention is being paid to the improvement of education in the country, the legacy of apartheid divisions and inequities will remain for some time. The Alternative Admissions Research Project at the University of Cape Town has developed, and performs research on, tests that indicate ability to cope with English‐medium academic education. These tests are used to provide additional access opportunities for students from disadvantaged educational backgrounds. In order to avoid developing tests that in effect only predict the past, the project has embarked upon an innovative approach designed to take seriously the effects of educational disadvantage, and to minimise reliance on content‐based secondary school experiences. This approach incorporates central principles from constructivist learning theories, most centrally that learning is an active, constructive process. In the tests being used and developed by the project, these principles take shape in an increased focus on the role played by questions and tasks within tests in terms of the provision of opportunities for learning to take place. The paper reports preliminary results from this testing approach.