Composite scores are an exceptionally important psychometric tool for behavioral science research applications. A prototypical example occurs with self-report data, where researchers routinely use questionnaires with multiple items that tap into different features of a target construct. Item-level missing data are endemic to composite score…

Out of over 1.9 million students in the 2018 ACT-tested graduating class, 44% took the full ACT® test at least twice in hopes of improving their scores. Camara and Allen (2017) support this practice, confirming that factors such as time in the classroom between test administrations are associated with increases in ACT Composite scores from the…

Structural equation modeling (SEM) has been deemed as a proper method when variables contain measurement errors. In contrast, path analysis with composite-scores is preferred for prediction and diagnosis of individuals. While path analysis with composite-scores has been criticized for yielding biased parameter estimates, recent literature pointed…

Human raters and machine scoring systems potentially have complementary strengths in evaluating language ability; specifically, it has been suggested that automated systems might be used to make consistent measurements of specific linguistic phenomena, whilst humans evaluate more global aspects of performance. We report on an empirical study that…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the relationship between the dependent variable, fiscal responsibility composite scores, and the independent variables enrollment, SACSCOC accreditation status, level of degrees offered, and institution endowment at private 4-year degree-granting HBCUs accredited by SACSCOC for fiscal years…

Intelligence tests produce composite scores that are interpreted as indexes of psychometric g. Like all measures, general intelligence composites are not pure representations of their intended construct, so it is important to evaluate the score characteristics that affect accuracy in measurement. In this study, we identified three characteristics…

Social and emotional (SE) skills are known to be linked with many important life outcomes, including academic performance, performance on standardized college entrance exams, and college enrollment. In this technical brief, the authors evaluated whether the five SE skills measured with the Mosaic™ by ACT® predict postsecondary enrollment and…

The Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT-4) is the latest iteration of a popular instrument that psychologists employ to assess academic achievement. The WIAT-4 authors make both pragmatic and measurement claims about the instrument. The pragmatic claims involve being useful for identifying individuals in certain academic achievement-related…

This report describes ACT test results for Austin Independent School District (AISD) seniors in the 2018-2019 school year. In 2018-2019, the district's average ACT composite score of 23.0 exceeded the state (20.5) and national (20.7) average composite scores.

Dysfunctional movement, a suggested contributing factor for musculoskeletal pain and injury, appears to increase as adolescents experience puberty. This study investigated dysfunctional movement among a group of ninth-grade physical education students to determine if a standardized functional movement warm-up (FMWU) would improve movement quality…

This dissertation was designed to foster a deeper understanding of population invariance in the context of composite-score equating and provide practitioners with guidelines for addressing score equity concerns at the composite score level. The purpose of this dissertation was threefold. The first was to compare different composite equating…

The purpose of this ex post facto correlational study was to determine if the Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS) examination successfully identified nursing students capable of completing a nursing program. The study was based on correlational analysis that established the relationship between the TEAS V score, completion of the program, and…

As college-bound high school seniors know, the ACT examination is possibly the single most important assessment students take during their academic careers. ACT scores can determine college entrance, scholarship dollars, and whether students will be placed in remedial courses. Parents pay large sums of money to prepare their children for this…

The authors illustrate models and procedures that can be applied to calculate overall composite scores in order to identify an indicator of English language proficiency, based on composite scores for English learners with 504 or individualized education plans who are missing one or more domain scores on the Assessing Comprehension and…

"The Scales for Assessing Emotional Disturbance--Third Edition Rating Scale" (SAED-3 RS; Epstein et al.) is a standardized, norm-referenced measure designed to aid in the identification process by providing useful data to professionals determining eligibility of students with an emotional disturbance (ED). Three studies are reported to…