skip to main content skip to footer

Validation of a Test Battery for Youth-Work Training Program Enrollees

Author(s):
Freeberg, Norman E.; Reilly, Richard R.
Publication Year:
1972
Report Number:
RM-72-11
Source:
ETS Research Memorandum
Document Type:
Report
Page Count:
28
Subject/Key Words:
Greater Chester Movement of Chester, Pa., Mercy-Douglas Hospital, Philadelphia, Pa., Neighborhood Youth Corp Project, Cognitive Tests, Criterion Referenced Tests, Disadvantaged Youth, Enrollee Test Battery, Neighborhood Youth Corps, Questionnaires, Test Reviews, Validity Studies, Work Experience Programs

Abstract

Correlations between the Enrollee Test Battery (ETE) and performance on more conventional tests were examined to determine the ETB validity, in addition to a small-Scale study of predictive validity of both ETB and the conventional tests. Three types of paper and pencil measures were utilized: the ETB, conventional cognitive skills tests, and scales of criterion questionnaires. There were 23 tests in all. The study sample consisted of 74 (29 males and 45 females) predominantly Black high school dropouts, between 14 and 17 years of age, who were enrolled in two Neighborhood Youth Corps Out-of-School projects. Answers to the criterion questionnaires were obtained from 44 of the enrollees six months after they had left the program. Predictive validity for the tests was examined by correlating each of the 23 tests scores with factor scores derived from the questionnaire criterion scales for each of the three criterion samples--Program Completion, Post Program (Employed), and Post Program (Not Employed). Levels of concurrent validity for the ETB was determined from intercorrelations between the 17 tests of that battery and the 6 conventional cognitive skill measures. That matrix was also factor analyzed. Results of the study show that measures of the ETB, which was designed specifically for use with disadvantaged adolescents, appear fairly coherent and logical in their patterns of relationships with each other and with conventional cognitive skills tests.

Read More