LD2668 .T4 1966 C68 / Master of Science

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 187-205). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 187-205). Also available on the Internet.

The purpose of this study was to compare the relationship between the American College Test (ACT) sub-test scores, nursing courses' grade point average, college cumulative grade point average and the State Board Test Pool Examination (SBTPE) sub-test scores. Data from 227 nurses were analyzed utilizing three procedures: Pearson product-moment coefficient; multiple correlation coefficient; and linear regression equations. Conclusions were that several ACT sub-test scores could yield useful information on admission; the college cumulative grade point average was the most reliable indicator of success on the SBTPE; and an ACT composite score of eleven was the minimum value required to pass the SBTPE sub-tests with a score of at least 350.

This thesis analyzes the origins, growth, and legitimization of the standardized test preparation ("test-prep") industry from the late 1940s to the end of the 1980s. In particular, this thesis focuses on the development of Stanley H. Kaplan Education Centers, Ltd. ("Kaplan") and The Princeton Review ("TPR"), and how these companies were most conducive in making the test-prep industry and standardized test-preparation itself socially acceptable. The standardized test most frequently discussed in this thesis is the Scholastic Aptitude Test ("SAT"), especially after its development came under the control of Educational Testing Service ("ETS"), but due attention is also given to the American College Testing Program ("ACT"). This thesis argues that certain test-prep companies gained legitimacy by successfully manipulating the interstices of American business and education, and brokered legitimacy through the rhetorical devices in their advertising. However, the legitimacy for the industry at-large was gained by default as neither the American government nor the American public could conclusively demonstrate that the industry conducted wholesale fraud. The thesis also argues that standardized test manufacturers were forced to engage in a cat-and-mouse game of pseudo-antagonism and adaptation with the test-prep industry once truth-in-testing laws prescribed transparent operations in standardized testing. These developments affect the current state of American standardized testing, its fluctuating but ubiquitous presence in the college admissions process, and the perpetuation of the test-prep industry decades after its origins.