TY - JOUR
T1 - A Cross-Sectional Evaluation of Student Achievement Using Standardized and Performance-Based Tests
AU - Pinter, Brad
AU - Matchock, Robert L.
AU - Charles, Eric P.
AU - Balch, William R.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was partially supported by a Faculty Development Grant to the authors from The Pennsylvania State University, Altoona.
PY - 2014/1
Y1 - 2014/1
N2 - Three groups of undergraduates (42 senior graduating psychology majors, 27 first-year premajors taking introductory psychology, and 24 first-year, high-performing nonmajors taking introductory psychology) completed the Psychology Major Field Test (MFT) and a short-answer (SA) essay test on reasoning about core knowledge in psychology. Graduating majors significantly outperformed both first-year groups using raw and covariate-corrected scores (adjusted for group differences in SAT-Verbal and high school grade point average). On the MFT, graduating majors scored above the 50th percentile, whereas high-performing nonmajors and premajors scored in the 25th and 20th percentiles, respectively. On the SA test, graduating majors averaged good-to-excellent quality responses, whereas premajors and high-performing nonmajors averaged only fair-to-good quality responses. Discussion focuses on the design and implementation of value-added, academic program assessments with limited data collection resources.
AB - Three groups of undergraduates (42 senior graduating psychology majors, 27 first-year premajors taking introductory psychology, and 24 first-year, high-performing nonmajors taking introductory psychology) completed the Psychology Major Field Test (MFT) and a short-answer (SA) essay test on reasoning about core knowledge in psychology. Graduating majors significantly outperformed both first-year groups using raw and covariate-corrected scores (adjusted for group differences in SAT-Verbal and high school grade point average). On the MFT, graduating majors scored above the 50th percentile, whereas high-performing nonmajors and premajors scored in the 25th and 20th percentiles, respectively. On the SA test, graduating majors averaged good-to-excellent quality responses, whereas premajors and high-performing nonmajors averaged only fair-to-good quality responses. Discussion focuses on the design and implementation of value-added, academic program assessments with limited data collection resources.
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U2 - 10.1177/0098628313514174
DO - 10.1177/0098628313514174
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84901391653
SN - 0098-6283
VL - 41
SP - 20
EP - 27
JO - Teaching of Psychology
JF - Teaching of Psychology
IS - 1
ER -