The Status of Research on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and Hispanic Students in Postsecondary Education

Abstract

In this chapter, studies evaluating the validity of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) for use in college admissions of Hispanic students will be reviewed. Other tests for admission to graduate or professional schools are not considered here because small sample sizes and other practical problems limit the number of studies on Hispanic versus white non-Hispanic group differences in validity. Before beginning, it is worthwhile to repeat the cautions in Linn’s (1982) preface to his review of group differences in test validity:

The controversies over testing are neither created by, nor will they be resolved by, the results of investigations of test validity (Cronbach, 1975)....Justification of test use obviously depends upon much more than [how well an ability test predicts academic or professional performance]. Potential benefits and losses for the individual, the institution, and the society at large need to be considered, and the relative importance of the benefits and losses can be expected to vary greatly in the eyes of these various interests. Nonetheless, information about the degree of relationship to test scores to particular criterion measures and about the degree to which the observed relationship is generalizable across situations and from one situation to another is an important component in the evaluation of the use of tests. (335–336).