The Contribution of Three Reading Tests To a Community College Placement Program

Abstract

Three test batteries, the Cooperative English Tests, California Reading Tests, and the Comparative Guidance and Placement Program battery, were administered to 2600 students entering an open-admission community college in the fall of 1970. Each was thought to be of specific value to the placement procedures developed by the college to provide remedial reading courses to a heterogeneous student population. This study was undertaken to determine the psychometric properties of the tests. The results of tests for 1534 students were factor analyzed. All reading tests loaded highly on the same factor, as did the grammar tests of the Cooperative English and Comparative Guidance and Placement Program batteries. It was concluded that in view of a high degree of redundancy among the three batteries the value of administering all three tests to the same groups was highly questionable.

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References

Cattell, R. B. Abilities: Their Structure, Growth, and Action. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Co., 1971.

College Entrance Examination Board. Comparative Placement and Guidance Program, Form SPG, 1970 Edition. Princeton, New Jersey : Educational Testing Service , 1970.

Educational Testing Service. Cooperative English Test. Princeton, New Jersey: Educational Testing Service; Cooperative Test Division, 1960.

IBM 1130 Statistical System User's Manual (3rd Edition). White Plains, New York: IBM Corporation, Technical Publications Department, 1969.

Tiegs, E. and Clark, W. California Reading Test, Form W. Monterey, California : California Test Bureau, 1963.