Abstract
This paper argues that, although many colleges use the Scholastic Aptitude Tests or Scholastic Assessment Tests (SAT) to determine which students will be selected for admittance, this test is affected by family incomes. The author points out that students from low income or even middle income families usually have lower scores than students who have parents with higher incomes. The paper relates that the SAT scores were not meant to measure long term academic success. The author clarifies that children who live in richer communities receive a better education than those students in poorer communities because these higher income children may go to privates schools or because schools serving lower income communities may receive less funding and therefore are unable to provide an enriched curriculum. The paper stresses that, for admittance, the SAT scores should be eliminated and grade point average should be used instead.

From the Paper
"Research shows that students who are involved in extracurricular activities perform better on SAT scores. Students involved in extracurricular activities can be "a measurable and meaningful gain in their college admissions test scores". Even with students who come from poor families can benefit from these extracurricular activities. Yet, it is important to remember that schools with low federal funding cannot afford to have many of the extracurricular activities that schools with higher federal funding have."

Tags:standardized, merit, curriculum, extracurricular, funding

Abstract
This paper contends that student aptitude should not be assessed through standardized testing because these tests are unfair to many students. It also claims that, these tests are unfair to underprivileged schools and poor test takers and that they take time out of class and don't prepare students for real life by teaching them to pass the test.

From the Paper
"Not only does this form of testing cut out time from class, it is a poor assessor of student achievement. This means that a standardized test cannot measure the ability to create. A multiple choice test cannot determine a child's ability to "think or create in any field" (Fairtest 1). Standardized tests cannot give questions to do so because they are expensive and often the scoring is incorrect. Therefore this type of test should not be given if the ultimate goal is to assess student achievement because it cannot measure the student's ability to think at a high level; which is what all educators want for their students. Not only this says Fairtest.org, "Nor so these tests adequately measure thinking skills or assess what people can do on real-world tasks" (fairtest 3). Is not the sole purpose of education to prepare a student for college, and then ultimately the real world? Students are required to take classes such as FACS to prepare them for life situations, however if a standardized test cannot measure such skills then they are ineffective and obsolete. "

Tags:multiple, choice, standardized, testing

Abstract
It is the contention of this paper that the standardized SATs, intended as a tool to help predict a student's collegiate potential, fail to meet this objective. Instead, the exams often misrepresent or portray a potential student in a negative light because of the cultural bias of the test. The paper asserts that this is especially true for the African-American and Latino American population. Experts in the fields of education and social sciences are quoted, and data is presented that supports the author's contention. Other problems that are considered intrinsic to the SAT are also covered in this paper.

From the Paper
"Today's educational system supports tests such as the SAT's, which are often biased against minority students. The SAT's were developed by the Educational Testing Service as a means to predict successful collegiate performance. However, the tests in actuality seldom accurately predict the potential for a student's success. The SAT's have statistically in fact, been shown to have little value in predicting a student's future performance. They also negatively impact admissions representative's perceptions of a student's potential for academic success. The SAT's have also been shown to negatively impact minority groups, specifically African Americans, Hispanics and even low-income white students. The tests more accurately are a predictor of socioeconomic influences than a student's potential, and unwittingly favor middle and upper class students, who often have the opportunity to prepare and memorize for such tests, placing them at a disadvantage over their peers."

Tags:iq, tests, automatic, cultural, filter, ethnic, social, group, scores, cognitive, diversity, mel, levine

Abstract
This paper explains that the SAT was once considered an accurate and predictive tool for selecting freshmen entering a college or university, but, today, it appears that the people most in support of the SAT are the people who develop and distribute it. According to College Board SAT, "the combination of SAT scores and high school grade point average has been shown to be the single most effective measure of a student's ability to succeed in college." The paper suggests that one conclusion that can be drawn from research is that the SAT is most effective when combined with other predictors.

From the Paper
"The College Board solicited learning institutions to gain their participation in a validity study that tracked entering freshmen in the year 2006. This study will be published in 2008 (Dirks, 2005, pars. 6, 8). Given their interest in continuing to market the test, however, it seems possible to question its results. However, a backlash has been waged against the SAT in recent years. Schools in both the states of Texas and California have restricted the..."

Tags:sat, predictive, gpa

From the Paper
"Use of the Scholastic Aptitude Test

Review of the Literature
At the present time, over 90 percent of all American colleges and universities require applicants to take the Scholastic Aptitude Test and submit results of that test in order to gain admission. Approximately 1.7 million students take this test each year. However, the test has been questioned by many groups in terms of validity and appropriateness. How was this test developed and how appropriate is it as a measure of student aptitude for higher education?

SAT Development
There were a number of agencies interested in measuring intelligence during the period between World War I and World War ..."

Abstract
This study assesses how accurately the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) can predict a student's suitability and capability for a particular job. The thesis of the study concerns student aptitude while attending the U.S. Air Force Jet Engine Technical Training School, but is designed to provide an important additional source of data on the level of effectiveness of selection and classification tests across all military services.

From the Paper
"Historically, the demand for new enlisted recruits by the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force is virtually always high, and runs from about 250,000 young men and women a year during peacetime to several million during periods of mobilizations such as today (Dillon, 1997). The pool from which the military draws its new recruits is overwhelmingly young (generally ranging in age from 18 to the early 20s) and almost all have high school diplomas or GED equivalents; however, the majority of new recruits frequently arrive without any advanced education (i.e., college education) or much previous employment history. According to Zeidner (1986), the factors that have the most serious implications for the available recruitment pool include unemployment, growth, immigration, technology, occupational supply and demand, education and training, standard and nonstandard recruitment age groups, compensation and benefits, households and families, working conditions and attitudes, women in the labor force, migration patterns, and unionization."

Tags:united, states, military, personnel, select, train, assign, lead, refined, testing, instruments

Abstract
Studies of reaction times have been of interest to a wide variety of people for several centuries. Among one of the industries that stands to benefit the most from a more comprehensive understanding of reaction times is the automobile insurance industry, which charges customers premiums based on the risk that they might get into an accident. There is reason to believe that this propensity is directly correlated to reaction time. This paper shows that, whereas, in simple reaction time experiments, there is only one stimulus and one response, in choice reaction time experiments, the user must give a response that corresponds to the stimulus. This system most closely resembles that of driving. The paper shows that insurers have found that reaction time is determined as the time required for a driver to perceive a hazard and apply the brakes or turn the steering wheel. As a result, reaction time tests used to measure driving competency would have to focus on this particular metric.

From the Paper
"Other studies have shown that reaction times improve when there is a sense of anticipation in the subject, which bodes poorly for the method's use to the automobile insurance industry. Sanders (1998, p. 21) This has two implications to the industry: first, people with higher reaction times will tend to be better drivers and people who engage in reaction-time intensive activities such as video games will have higher reaction times. Secondly, testing will not reveal skills as well as might have been thought. Brebner and Welford (1980) report that reaction times are faster when the subject has been warned that a stimulus will arrive soon."

Tags:C.H.R.R., fatigue

Abstract
This paper explores whether the SAT scores are a true measure of a student's ability to succeed in college. It examines the history of this testing method and describes its contents. It also questions whether some students are getting an unfair advantage over others.

From the Paper
"James Bryant Conant, president of Harvard University, and Henry Chauncey, ETS, started the Scholastic Aptitude Test, now called Scholastic Assessment Test. It used the then-young science of intelligence testing to assess and sort American students "fairly and dispassionately."(Lemann, 2000) It has undergone changes. The math test as of 1995 allowed students to use calculators. In 1999, it was reported that questions with alleged bias were purged, including math questions upon which the College Board found that some groups performed more poorly. From 2005, a new SAT exam with some changes is set to begin."

Tags:student, college

Abstract
This paper discusses capitalism, communism and socialism with the common thread of the individual's role in each society. The writer claims that every person on earth has some special talent, some special ability or ambition, and that by allowing individuals to freely express their individual talents, the entire world reaps the benefits. The writer describes two different meanings of the word "talent" and concludes that talent, in all its meanings, is the foundation of a better world.

From the Paper
"Words, like ideas can have many meanings. Take for example the word "talent." Mention the term to almost any modern day American or European, and what comes to mind but an actor or an actress on the silver screen, or perhaps a painter, or an athlete. Talent is skill; aptitude, the ability to do things others cannot. But, to the ancients "talent" had quite a different meaning. A talent was a unit of weight most often applied to the measurement of precious metals."

Tags:industrialization, government, capitalism, communism, socialism, society, self-preservation

Abstract
This paper examines some of the major forms of standardized testing used in the United States today and assesses them for both fairness and validity.
Contents:

Introduction;

An Overview of Testing and Some Basic Definitions;

History of Standardized Psychological Testing;

Functions of Tests and Testing;

Typology of Current Tests;

The Key to Psychological and IQ Tests: Who Interprets Them;

Conclusion: Do Any of These Tests Do What They Promise

From the Paper
"The usefulness of psychological tests depends on their accuracy in predicting behavior. By providing information about the probability of a person's responses or performance, tests aid in making a variety of decisions. One of the sustained criticisms of psychological tests is how well in fact they are able to do precisely this predict future behavior. Many tests have the word "aptitude" in their titles to reassure us that they are in fact not simply testing the subject on how much he or she knows, what his or her mental state is at present, or what his or her experiences have been to date. And it is certainly true that to some extent tests do have a predictive value although of course the validity of this predictive value varies widely from test to test. But it is also true that one of the most important aspects of human nature (or the human psyche or human intelligence) is that we are capable of learning and changing. How much each one of us is capable of changing has remained a difficult aspect of human behavior to assess. And whether the particular circumstances that might cause someone to change will come about remain in the realm of crystal ball gazing (Nash 119)."

Tags:Binet, Simon, Stanford, Army, Alpha, Beta, Wechsler, Bellevue, Intelligence, Scale, Rorschach, inkblot, quotient, Thematic, Apperception, intelligence, achievement, interest, inventories, MMPI