35.080 - Validity and Fairness Issues in Assessing Higher Education Students

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

At present, the landscape of higher education, in the United States and internationally, is changing faster than at any other time in recent history. Democratizing forces, such as MOOCs (massive open online courses), are making higher education more accessible to new populations of students. Given these accelerating changes, it is critical to evaluate whether the assessments we use are valid and fair for all segments of the higher education student community. This symposium focuses on validity and fairness issues that arise from assessing different student skills and abilities, cognitive and non-cognitive. The presenters are all from different organizations; the discussant is the director of higher education research at ETS and has been engaged in test validity research for 25 years.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Test Validity Research and Evaluation

Chair

• Kate Marino, The Pennsylvania State University

Papers

• Considering Academic Achievement in Socioeconomic Context: New Directions for College Access - Matthew Newman Gaertner, WestEd

• A Mixed-Methods Scale Validation for Measuring College Students' Psychological Cost - Jessica Kay Flake, York University; Kenn E. Barron, James Madison University; Chris S. Hulleman, University of Virginia; D. Betsy Mccoach, University of Connecticut

• The Predictive Validity of Noncognitive Skills for Graduate and Professional Student Success: Some Initial Findings - David Marc Klieger, Educational Testing Service; Chelsea Ezzo, ETS; Jennifer Bochenek, ETS; Frederick A. Cline, ETS

• Patterns of Rapid Guessing Behavior Across Items in Low-Stakes Assessments - Dena A. Pastor, James Madison University; Scott N. Strickman, James Madison University

Discussant

• John W. Young, International Baccalaureate