[RUME] On-line Placement tests

[Cathy Kessel]

On Feb 10, 2006, at 4:04 PM, Jerome Epstein wrote:

> I think Charles is correct to be very concerned about online  
> placement.
>
> I would point out that on my Basic Skills Diagnostic Test (BSDT --  
> write
> for info if you want), there is a quite strong correlation between the
> score on the first half and the SAT I. The first half of the test is
> non-algebraic and all of its questions should be answerable by a
> competent 8th or 9th grader. What is quite stunning is the relative
> scale of the correlation. If one says that 75% on the 8th grade level
> test is minimally competent this correlates to 620 on the SAT.  
> Below 600
> one finds rapidly increasing probability that one will see serious
> problems at elementary school level math, approaching virtual  
> certainty
> at 500 (the national average). This has been shown now at 3
> universities, and with many hundreds of students at my university.

Does this mean that those universities have done a study? I'd be  
interested in a reference.

The (old) SAT is well known (at least in testing circles) to  
underpredict (in general, on average) women's undergraduate  
mathematics course grades relative to those of men. Marcia Linn and I  
summarized studies about the SAT (and other things, including  
possible legal consequences of its misuse) in:

C. Kessel and M. Linn. (1996). Grades or scores: Predicting future  
college mathematics performance. Educational Measurement: Issues and  
Practice, 15(4), 10–14, 38.

M. Linn and C. Kessel. (1996). Success in mathematics: Increasing  
talent and gender diversity. In Alan Schoenfeld, Ed Dubinsky, and  
James Kaput (Eds.), Research in Collegiate Mathematics Education II  
(pp. 101-144). Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society.

The SAT is not designed as a placement test. I haven't kept up with  
what happens with the new one as regards underprediction of grades,  
but (again) the new one is not designed as a placement test, so any  
math department that wants to use it that way needs to validate that  
use or worry about possible legal consequences.

--Cathy

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