Predicting Performance in Higher Education Using Proximal Predictors
Introduction
• aim: work sample test hardly been studied empirically within the context of higher
education + investigate the predictive validity of tests proximal to the criterion for predicting
academic performance and student-program fit in an actual academic selection context →
one sample approach and two specific skills test
Proximal Predictors for Academic Performance
Specific skills test
• limited research
• but found that specific subject tests of the Graduate Record Examinations were the best
predictors for graduate school GPA
• specific subject tests alone predicted academic outcomes almost as well as composite scores
of several general and subject-specific predictors
Work sample test
• sign test: measure theoretical construct (e.g. intelligence, personality)
• sample test: sample behavior that is representative for criterion behavior, based on notion
that current behavior is good predictor for future behavior
→ using behavioral sampling in prediction resulted in greater predictive validity than using
signs of behavior
• work sample test: high-fidelity assessment techniques that present conditions that are highly
similar to essential challenges and situations on an actual job and meet criteria of behavior
sampling and point-to-point correspondence → best predictor of job performance because
measure complex combination of individual abilities and skills (higher validity than when
abilities and skills are measured separately)
Trial-studying test
• constructed as simulations of academic programs or representative parts of academic
programs
• study found that cognitive reasoning test showed the largest relationship with first year
mean grade, followed by the trial-studying tests, with medium sized relationships (low
reliability) → applicants admitted on the basis of the trial-studying test dropped out less
often, earned higher grades, and obtained more course credit in the first year than applicants
who were rejected by the test
Educational Context
• proximal methods are suitable when students directly apply to a program in a specific
discipline (Bachelor, Master in Europa) → some sort of selection
◦ per-selection for higher education which one need to enter University so cognitive test is
unnecessary
◦ many international students so difficult to use previous educational performance
Aims of present study
• investigate the use of specific skills tests and the trial-studying test to predict performance in
higher education and student-program fit
• tests were administered in a real selection procedure
• examined the predictive validity of these tests for first year academic performance and
performance in types of specific course
• compared the predictive validity of these tests to that of prior educational achievement, one
of the best general predictors for academic achievement in higher education
Introduction
• aim: work sample test hardly been studied empirically within the context of higher
education + investigate the predictive validity of tests proximal to the criterion for predicting
academic performance and student-program fit in an actual academic selection context →
one sample approach and two specific skills test
Proximal Predictors for Academic Performance
Specific skills test
• limited research
• but found that specific subject tests of the Graduate Record Examinations were the best
predictors for graduate school GPA
• specific subject tests alone predicted academic outcomes almost as well as composite scores
of several general and subject-specific predictors
Work sample test
• sign test: measure theoretical construct (e.g. intelligence, personality)
• sample test: sample behavior that is representative for criterion behavior, based on notion
that current behavior is good predictor for future behavior
→ using behavioral sampling in prediction resulted in greater predictive validity than using
signs of behavior
• work sample test: high-fidelity assessment techniques that present conditions that are highly
similar to essential challenges and situations on an actual job and meet criteria of behavior
sampling and point-to-point correspondence → best predictor of job performance because
measure complex combination of individual abilities and skills (higher validity than when
abilities and skills are measured separately)
Trial-studying test
• constructed as simulations of academic programs or representative parts of academic
programs
• study found that cognitive reasoning test showed the largest relationship with first year
mean grade, followed by the trial-studying tests, with medium sized relationships (low
reliability) → applicants admitted on the basis of the trial-studying test dropped out less
often, earned higher grades, and obtained more course credit in the first year than applicants
who were rejected by the test
Educational Context
• proximal methods are suitable when students directly apply to a program in a specific
discipline (Bachelor, Master in Europa) → some sort of selection
◦ per-selection for higher education which one need to enter University so cognitive test is
unnecessary
◦ many international students so difficult to use previous educational performance
Aims of present study
• investigate the use of specific skills tests and the trial-studying test to predict performance in
higher education and student-program fit
• tests were administered in a real selection procedure
• examined the predictive validity of these tests for first year academic performance and
performance in types of specific course
• compared the predictive validity of these tests to that of prior educational achievement, one
of the best general predictors for academic achievement in higher education
