The Association of American Medical Colleges is conducting research on the incremental validity associated with adding an essay to the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). The present research examined the reliability of holistic scoring for a sample of essays written during the Spring 1985 MCAT administration. Analysis of variance techniques were used to estimate the reliability of scoring and to partition score variance into that due to level differences between papers and to context-specific factors such as rater, time of scoring, etc. Recommendations for structuring and managing large-scale scoring sessions are presented based on the results.
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References
1.
Analysis Plan for the MCAT Essay Pilot Project (1985, April). Available from the Division of Educational Measurement and Research, Association of American Medical Colleges, Washington, D.C.
2.
MCAT Essay Pilot Project Evaluation Plan (1985, March). Available from the Division of Educational Measurement and Re- search, Association of American Medical Colleges, Washington, D.C.
3.
White, M. (1985). Teaching and Assessing Writing: Recent Advances in Understanding, Evaluating and Improving Student Performance. San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
