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Kurt F. Geisinger, University of Nebraska-Lincoln David Payne, Educational Testing Service

Changes in Large-Scale Admissions Measures in American Higher Education: Implications for Test Adaptation. Kurt F. Geisinger, University of Nebraska-Lincoln David Payne, Educational Testing Service. Collegiate Admissions Practices in the United States.

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Kurt F. Geisinger, University of Nebraska-Lincoln David Payne, Educational Testing Service

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  1. Changes in Large-Scale Admissions Measures in American Higher Education: Implications for Test Adaptation Kurt F. Geisinger, University of Nebraska-Lincoln David Payne, Educational Testing Service

  2. Collegiate Admissions Practices in the United States • At the college-level, the SAT is the primary admissions measure in the US: 2.8 million test takers/year • The ACT Assessment is a strong #2 • At the graduate-school level, the GRE is #1 • GRE is a world-wide test (450,000/year) • The Miller Analogies Test is a weak #2 • Professional schools use a variety of specialized tests • These are among the highest quality examinations in the United States

  3. The Ownership of the Tests • College Board owns SAT and contracts for various services to Educational Testing Service. • Today, contracts primarily for test development • ETS owns GRE; has a Board that comes from the graduate community that sets certain policy issues

  4. Structure of the SAT and GRE • Both tests traditionally measure ability and achievement with • Reasoning tests as the basic tests • Achievement (subject-matter) tests as supplemental • Both tests traditionally had Verbal and Quantitative subtests • GRE added an Analytic Reasoning test in 1985

  5. The SAT • Was Scholastic Aptitude Test • Became Scholastic Assessment Test • Now SAT I: Reasoning Test • Changes in the 90s • Coded math answers • Scores re-centered • More focus on reasoning as a developed ability • Still paper & pencil

  6. Current Changes in the SAT • Verbal became Critical Reading • A new writing section has been added: Critical Reading, Quantitative, Writing • Focus on vocabulary drastically reduced (still vocabulary in context)/sentence completion • Many CR items are passage-based • Writing includes multiple-choice editing tasks and a 25-minute essay

  7. More Changes in SAT • Writing test objective-items • Sentence errors • Improving sentences • Improving paragraphs • Editing • Essay is scored globally by two raters (1-6) and its score is factored into the 200-800 scores

  8. Changes in the both Verbal Tests(SAT & GRE) • Both tests had verbal tests • Originally, both had both analogies and antonyms—heavy dependence upon vocabulary • SAT dropped Antonyms in 1994 • SAT dropped Analogies in 2005 • GRE will drop Antonyms in 2007 • GRE will drop Analogies in 2007 • Vocabulary approximates intelligence • Vocabulary encourages a type of test preparation that is not useful for validity • New one-word answers have limits on vocabulary difficulty

  9. Changes in the SAT Quantitative • Permitted calculator • Coding in answers • More realistic problems

  10. History of the GREs • First administered in 1937 • Earliest test had 8 profiles: literature, fine arts, mathematics, science, verbal…) • Soon came to be modeled on the SATs • Early GREs were actually old SATs • Items, at least item types, have transported from one to the other

  11. GRE has evolved more • Added Analytic test in 1985, which changed quickly (V, Q, & A) • Went to computer-adaptive testing in early 90’s • Replaced Analytic test with Analytic Writing • (2 essays, 2 prompts, one argument, one persuasive) • Will go to computer-administered linear tests in 2007 • Expect to have 29 test administrations world-wide annually • Verbal test far more reading oriented • Quantitative measure--uses computer-based 4-function calculator

  12. Implications for Adaptation • First, recall that these are some of the best tests in the world, while controversial • Education is becoming more and more global • Desires to adapt • Security issues worldwide • Does dropping vocabulary make this task easier? YES! • Does adding writing make it easier? Not sure

  13. Implications for Reading Assessment • Increased weight on reading comprehension • Translate reading passages and questions or find equivalent • How assess equivalence in passages? In questions?

  14. Writing Computerized scoring How does the assessment of writing translate? Scale can clearly be used internationally How would the mc questions on the SAT translate? Quantitative How international is the use of calculators How to set scales, especially for the GRE Implications on Adaptation

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