Development and validation of an admission test designed to assess samples of performance on academic tasks

This study illustrates the development and validation of an admission test, labeled as Performance Samples on Academic Tasks in Educational Sciences (PSAT-Ed), designed to assess samples of performance on academic tasks characteristic of those that would eventually be encountered by examinees in an Educational Sciences program. The test was based on one of Doyle's (1983) categories of academic tasks, namely comprehension tasks. There were 108 examinees who completed the test consisting of nine comprehension tasks. Factor analysis indicated that the test is basically unidimensional. Furthermore, generalizability analysis indicated adequate reliability of the pass/fail decisions. Regression analysis then showed that the test significantly predicted later academic performance. The implications of using performance assessments such as PSAT-Ed in admission procedures are discussed.