Spencer S. Swinton

Extending the Measurement of Graduate Admission Abilities Beyond the Verbal and Quantitative Domains

Traditionally, major national admissions tests, such as the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) Aptitude Test, have focused primarily on the mea surement of broadly applicable verbal and quanti tative abilities. The GRE Board recently sponsored an investigation of the possibility of extending the measurement of abilities beyond the verbal and quantitative domains in order to facilitate a broadened definition of talent. That effort resulted in a restructured GRE Aptitude Test, which in cludes a measure of analytical ability for which a separate score is reported. The present study pro vides a factor analytic description of the new re structured test. Results suggest that the restruc tured test continues to tap the verbal and quantita tive skills measured by the original GRE Aptitude Test but that it also contains a distinct, identifiable analytical dimension that is highly correlated with the dimensions underlying performance on the ver bal and quantitative sections of the test.

On "State Education Statistics.".

In January 1984 and again in January 1985, then Secretary of Education Bell released the table “State Education Statistics.” These tables contained a variety of education indicators, among them average SAT or ACT scores for each state. In this paper we examine these scores to see if they can be used for state-by-state comparisons to aid in the evaluation of those educational policies that vary across states. We conclude that statistical adjustment to remove the bias introduced by inappropriate aggregation and self-selection of examinees is not sufficient to insure the validity of the kinds of inferences that are desired.