Re: Justification for the SAT

[Stephen McGinnis <Nanodev@AOL.COM>]

In a message dated 9/1/01 11:11:20 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
gbracey@EROLS.COM writes:

> Stephen, when you say that people believe that "somehow teachers assign
>  grades in a perfect manner that never contains bias," all you do is show
how
>  little you know about us and destroy your own credibility.  No one would
>  ever believe that.

Strange.  I do not recall you questioning the validity of grades in any of
your EDDRA reports.  Can you post any of your work where you address this
issue?

>  The fact is, though, that at most institutions, the GPA is a better
>  predictor of success than the SAT.  And the GPA based on "rigorous courses"
>  is better still.

Of course there is a good correlation.  High school grades are a good
predictor of college grades.  However, does this actually mean anything?  I
can make an equally valid statement that the SAT is an excellent predictor of
college success since those students with high scores on the SAT also tend to
have high scores on the GRE, MCAT, etc.  I will also go out on a limb that if
we evaluate students in college on how many apples they can juggle, then
there will be a strong correlation between high school juggling ability and
college success.

Stating that there is a correlation between high school and college grades
does not provide any evidence that grades are in fact an accurate measure of
educational achievement.

Sincerely,

Steve McGinnis

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