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At one time, higher education was seen as a public good that brought value to society, but today it is perceived as a personal investment in which the public has limited interest. This essay makes the point that while many people tout the benefits of education in dollar terms, it is imperative that the more important benefits be recognized, the improvements in social opportunities, civic participation, and economic and educational potential for youth. Education should not be perceived only as a public good in the eyes of the welfare recipient, the recent immigrant, or the first-generation college student. Higher education should be regarded as a public good in the eyes of the community, the for-profit sector, and Congress. Investment in access to higher education is an investment in the potential of every American. (SLD)

The College Scholarship Service (CSS) Council Task Force on Reauthorization presented its recommendations to the CSS Council in December 2002. The Task Force focused its recommendations on issues that address the overarching goal of ensuring access to higher education for the most needy students. The recommendations reflect the consensus of CSS Council Members. Recommendations are grouped into these categories: (1) federal methodology, 13 recommendations; (2) Pell Grant, 3 recommendations; (3) campus-based programs, 10 recommendations; (4) Federal Family Education Loan and Federal Direct Student Loan Programs, 9 recommendations; (5) Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership, 2 recommendations; and (6) general provisions, 5 recommendations. An appendix lists members of the College Scholarship Service Council. (SLD)

This paper discusses the role of student loans in college access. Borrowing to pay for education is a sound decision for most students, and student loans are a vital part of college financing policy. There has been a considerable increase in student borrowing, and much of this results from the introduction of the Stafford Loan in 1993. Borrowing is in fact associated with staying in school, although even students willing to borrow are often forced to seek alternatives because of the current limits imposed on Stafford loan borrowing. Concern about the levels of borrowing that will cause serious problems for students is certainly appropriate, but there is no evidence to date that average student debt levels are unmanageable. Any student would prefer to receive grant aid, but borrowing plays a very important role in increasing access to postsecondary education. More generous limits to borrowing and a low-income insurance policy to protect borrowers whose education does not pay off in the labor market would reduce the barriers to educational access created by the growing reliance on loans. (SLD)

This report examines recent trends in the provision of state aid and the impact of these trends on college access. It also examines the funding sources for state scholarships, and how the current fiscal crisis facing many states is likely to impact college access and opportunity across the United States. The evidence is fairly conclusive regarding the recent trend toward the substitution of merit for financial need in the awarding of state scholarships. This practice for the most part subsidizes the college-going behavior of those students who were likely to attend college even without the additional subsidy from taxpayers. It is likely to exacerbate, rather than reduce, existing gaps in college attendance between rich and poor and between racial majority and minority students. Policymakers have a choice to make regarding who will receive public assistance to attend college and how that assistance will be provided. The current fiscal crisis facing most states, which is already resulting in double-digit tuition increases in many public institutions, will only make this challenge more critical. (Contains 29 references.) (SLD)

As background to the National Dialogue on Student Financial Aid, this essay discusses the fundamental assumptions and aims that underlie the principles and policies of federal financial aid to students. These eight assumptions and aims are explored: (1) higher education is the province of states, and not of the federal government; (2) the costs of higher education are appropriately shared by taxpayers, parents, students, and philanthropists; (3) the role of the federal government has been to make up what low- and middle-income families cannot afford or can not borrow to bring at least state-sponsored public higher education within reach of any student who also will contribute through earnings and loans; (4) the role of the federal government is also to make student loans widely available; (5) the extent of state support is a policy decision appropriately made at the state level; (6) federal student aid is given without regard to academic promise or potential and with only minimal regard to performance; (7) federal aid to undergraduates, with few exceptions, is given without regard to course of study or intended occupation; and (8) the government should be the guarantor against the risk of default on student loans. Given these assumptions, it is reasonable to conclude that federal financial aid is going to be structured through Title IV, which can by no means be called a failure. Title IV is neither wrong nor broken, and need not be reformed fundamentally. (SLD)

This document originated in the Roundtable on Linguistic/Cultural Diversity and American Higher Education organized by the National Task Force on minority High Achievement held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, December 6-8, 1998. It represents one participant's view of important themes that emerged during the Roundtable. Three trends combine to present a growing challenge to U.S. higher education: (1) rapid growth in culturally diverse populations; (2) a substantial increase in the number of culturally diverse students seeking admission to higher education; and (3) a wide gap between these culturally diverse students and European American students in their performance on admission tests such as the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT[R]). To respond appropriately to this challenge, the College Board will need to consider a broad range of policy options, some of which are described in this report. The first section focuses on preparatory programs for higher education. This section reviews two preparatory programs that the College Board has established, the Pacesetter[R] and the Advanced Placement Program (AP[R]) and recommends new directions for them to pursue to improve recruitment and instruction of culturally diverse students. The second section focuses on developing appropriate testing and assessment for culturally diverse students. It presents recommendations for improving the SAT and developing new approaches, which would not include versions of the SAT in other languages. It would be appropriate, however, to develop a modified English version of the SAT. The third section outlines a research agenda that supplements the development of testing and assessment by improving databases of the College Board, conducting research on SAT performance for culturally diverse students, and focusing on research on culturally diverse students who perform at the highest levels on the SAT. This research should identify factors in the home and community, as well as in the school, that contribute to students' success. (Contains 3 figures, 9 tables, and 151 references.) (SLD)

This booklet discusses the need to expand advanced placement programs for high school students and gives some examples of programs that are giving more students the opportunity to take advanced placement courses. The greatest challenge is to increase the numbers of poor and minority students taking Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and other demanding courses. Research has demonstrated the connection between taking more challenging courses and greater success in college. One of the greatest challenges to expanding advanced placement programs is low expectations that suggest that rigorous classes are too hard on students. New grants from the U.S. Department of Education are designed to fund the expansion of advanced courses and programs, and state governments are also working to increase advanced placement opportunities. Many colleges and universities are cooperating with the Advanced Placement program, the International Baccalaureate, and other courses to offer a college-level curriculum to high school students. Several examples show that these programs, like those sponsored by foundations, are helping greater numbers of students choose advanced placement. It is apparent, however, that the road to advanced placement should start well before high school, and even before middle school, with vocabulary development and reading achievement opportunities for young children. (SLD)

For more than 70 years researchers have studied the validity of the Scholastic Assessment Test I (SAT I) and its predecessor, the Scholastic Aptitude Test, through hundreds of validity studies conducted at various colleges using the SAT in their admission process. The majority of these studies use high school records and SAT scores as predictors and freshman grade point average as the criterion representing success in college. Validity studies have consistently found that high school grades and SAT scores together are substantial and significant predictors of achievement in college. In these studies, although high school grades are typically slightly better predictors of achievement, SAT scores add significantly to the prediction. These findings tend to hold for all subgroups of students and for all types of measures of academic achievement: freshman grades, course grades, cumulative grades, and measures of persistence. Because persistence in college is influenced substantially by nonacademic factors, the validity coefficients for predicting persistence are slightly lower than for predicting specific academic criteria. For predicting nonacadmeic criteria and nonacadmeic criteria after college, high school grades and SAT scores are not good predictors. (Contains 1 figure, 6 tables, and 19 references.) (SLD)

The impact of revisions in the content of the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) and changes in the score scale on the predictive validity of the SAT were examined. Predictions of freshman grade-point average (FGPA) for the entering class of 1994 (who had taken the old SAT) were compared with predictions for the class of 1995 (who had taken the new SAT I: Reasoning Test). The 1995 scores were evaluated both on the original SAT Program scale and on the recentered scale introduced that year. The changes in the test content and recentering of the score scale had virtually no impact on predictive validity. Other analyses indicated that the SAT I predicts FGPA about equally well across different ethnic groups. Correlations were slightly higher for higher levels of parental education and family income, and grades were more predictable for students with intended majors in math/science (mathematics, engineering, and biological or physical sciences) than for students with other intended majors. Correlations of the SAT I and the composite of SAT I scores and high school grade point average (HSGPA) with FGPA were generally higher for women than for men, although this pattern was reversed at college with very high mean SAT I scores. When a single prediction equation was used for all students, men tended to get lower grades than predicted, and women got higher grades than predicted. African American and Hispanic/Latino men received lower grades than predicted, but women in these groups performed as predicted by the composite. Both men and women with intended majors in math/science got lower grades than would be predicted by an equation based on scores for all enrolled students. (Contains 13 tables, 7 figures, and 18 references.) (Author)

This report, commissioned by the College Board's National Task Force on Minority High Achievement, contains an analysis of possible changes in the racial and ethnic composition of the student-age population in the United States between 1990 and 2015. The data are presented disaggregated by social class, as measured by parent education and family income levels, and by native-born/immigrant status. To project the student population by 2015, a systemic and dynamic model of the flows of the U.S. population through the U.S. primary, secondary, and postsecondary education system was used. The model was calibrated using the educational transition probabilities and educational attainment measured in the 1992, 1993, and 1994 Current Population Surveys of the U.S. Census. A least squares regression technique was used to project family incomes in 2015, and a method was developed to assign the projected 2015 population aged 0-17 to families by the income and education of their presumed parents. Projections of the number of children that will be reared by parents with four different levels of education are included, along with projections of the number of children by family income quartile. All racial and ethnic adult groups are projected to increase their educational attainment, but disparities in educational attainment between racial and ethnic groups are also projected to increase. Four appendixes discuss: (1) in-school and out-of-school transition probabilities; (2) births, death rates, and annual immigration flows; (3) family income estimates model; and (4) children per adult, per educational attainment, and family income. (Contains 14 tables.) (SLD)

The Advanced Placement (AP) program is a cooperative educational effort of secondary schools, colleges, and the College Board that consists of 30 college-level courses and examinations in 17 academic disciplines for highly motivated students in secondary schools. AP courses are offered in more than 11,000 high schools and are recognized by nearly 2,900 U.S. and foreign colleges and universities that grant credit, advanced placement, or both to students who have performed satisfactorily on the AP examinations. The AP program provides teaching materials, course descriptions, and examinations based on these descriptions, but it does not prescribe the textbook, schedule of lessons, or teaching techniques. Examinations are administered in May, scored in June, and reported in July of each year. This booklet describes the AP program and its course and examination in Statistics. A topic outline, a discussion of the instructional emphasis of the AP Statistics course, some sample questions, other details about the Statistics examination, and some suggested resources for teaching AP statistics are presented. Information about test construction is also included. An order form for AP publications is attached. (SLD)

This report seeks to build a case for the potential value of arts-centered cross-disciplinary approaches as a possible way to integrate an often-fragmented high school curriculum. Stressing that there is no universal panacea for the complex and multi-layered issues of school reform and change, the report suggests a possible vision that could lead to a new milieu for what teachers teach and how students learn in U.S. high schools. Sections of the report include: (1) "Purposes and Premises of the Report"; (2) "Cross-Disciplinary Study"; (3) "The Arts and Cross-Disciplinary Study"; and (4) "Current Contexts and Future Prospects." Two appendices and a 105-item bibliography accompany the text. (EH)

Brief, impromptu essays written for the 1990 administration of the College Board's English Composition Test (ECT) were randomly sampled for four groups of examinees. These essays were subjected to further holistic ratings beyond those conducted for the ECT, and analytical ratings were also obtained. The holistic scores were correlated with the analytical scores to determine which essay characteristics were most closely associated with high holistic scores. Results indicated that overall organization, use of supporting materials, noteworthy ideas, rhetorical strategy, and the thesis statement were the strongest correlates. Comparisons with the results of a study of 1979 essays on a different topic showed that the same characteristics were associated with high scores in that administration. These characteristics correlated strongly with high holistic scores for all subgroups and for males and females. Other factors associated with higher scores, studied only in 1990, were completion of the task, use of a standard essay format, use of literary references, and proficiency in the English language. Certain types of content were also associated with higher scores. Four appendixes present the essay topic, the rating form and instructions, supplementary ratings, and selected examples. (Contains 15 tables and 6 references.) (Author/SLD)

The report summarizes undergraduate admissions policies, practices, and procedures at two- and four-year colleges and universities as of 1992. Information was drawn from a national survey, the third of a series conducted since 1979. A total of 2,024 institutions responded to the survey. An introductory chapter describes the surveys, their methodology, and some summary results. Subsequent chapters detail findings concerning: selectivity in admissions (general admissions practices, selectivity categories, overall acceptance rates, rates for different student subgroups, and acceptance in relationship application rates); general admission procedures for two- and four-year institutions (locus of responsibility, policies and requirements, two-year degree candidacy criteria, and new or alternative approaches to admissions); policies, practices, and procedures specific to four-year institutions (academic requirements and exceptions, admissions tests, importance of various factors in admissions decisions, role of personal qualities, trends in academic qualifications); first-time and other enrollment rates at different institution types; and recruitment, marketing, and financial aid (recruitment practices, two-year transfer policies and practices, market research, enrollment planning, relationship between financial aid and recruitment/admissions decisions, cost and college choice, no-need aid awards, acceptance and yield rates, freshman financial needs). Appended materials include the survey questionnaires for two- and four-year institutions, the cover letter, and notes on methodology. (Contains 40 references.) (MSE)

A study provided an up-to-date source of word frequency information based in the kinds of reading materials to which high school and first-year college students are exposed. A corpus of 14,360,884 words was assembled from a comprehensive listing of reading materials from curriculum surveys, state curriculum guides, private school reading lists, research surveys, federal reports, recommended reading lists, and other sources. Included in the sample of reading materials were American and British novels, poetry, drama, essays, biographies, autobiographies, current periodicals, historical documents, and text from an encyclopedia. The following statistics were generated: (1) the overall frequency of occurrence of each word in the corpus; (2) an index of dispersion for each word over 27 text categories; (3) an estimate of the number of occurrences per one million words of running text for each word that would be expected in a similar but different corpus; and (4) a standard frequency index developed from a logarithmic transformation. (Contains 43 references and 7 tables of data. Appendixes present a list of materials surveyed, and a list of materials sampled for word count.) (RS)

This report describes three exploratory studies of the performance of males and females on the multiple-choice and constructed-response sections of four Advanced Placement Examinations: United States History, Biology, Chemistry, and English Language and Composition. Analyses were carried out for each racial or ethnic group with a sample size of at least 200. Gender differences associated with differences in the score reliabilities of the two types of assessment were studied. Analyses were also conducted to assess the extent to which sex-related differences in multiple-choice scores could be attributed to differentially functioning items favoring males. Exploratory analyses were also undertaken to determine whether patterns of sex-related items could be observed for constructed- response questions. There was little support for the "different-reliabilities" hypothesis, and fairly small numbers of multiple-choice items exhibited sex-related differential functioning. The third study suggested that topic variability may have a greater effect on sex-related differences than the variability associated with particular question types or content areas. Fourteen figures and 22 tables present analysis results. An appendix presents four tables of summary statistics. (Contains 28 references.) (Author/SLD)

Based on initial Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) Verbal pretest data and hypotheses advanced in the research literature, 7 sentence completion and 16 analogy items with extreme levels of differential item functioning (DIF) were selected and then systematically revised and re-administered in an attempt to reduce or eliminate DIF. The apparent success of the effort makes similar attempts worth continuing. The particular terminology used in stems and keys, rather than the underlying skill being measured, seemed to be a recurring source of DIF in the SAT-Verbal items. Larger sample sizes, especially for minority focal groups, would help to stabilize the DIF categories used by Educational Testing Service (ETS) test developers. In addition, because the ETS delta metric is unbounded at the extremes, the use of both the Standardization (p-metric) and Mantel-Haenszel (delta-metric) methodologies is recommended for classifying the level of DIF for very easy and very difficult items. Further research is suggested to study the possible relationship between DIF and predictive validity. Nine tables and four figures present analysis results. An appendix summarizes DIF hypotheses. (Contains 26 references.) (Author/SLD)

It has been reasonably well established that test takers can sometimes answer correctly some reading comprehension passages without reading the passages on which the questions are based. This issue was studied with the new Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) in a study designed to determine the strategies by which examinees are able to achieve better-than-chance performances without reading the passages. Sets of sample reading comprehension questions were administered, without passages, to 350 verbally-able students in 8 secondary schools across the country. After completing the task, students were asked to complete a questionnaire describing the strategies they had used. The most often cited strategies involved choosing answers on the basis of consistency with other questions and reconstructing the main theme of a missing passage from all the questions and answers in a set. These strategies were also more likely to result in successful performance on individual test items than any of the many other possible approaches. Implications for the construct validity of the new SAT are discussed. One figure and 14 tables present analysis results. (Contains 25 references.) (Author/SLD)

An item classification scheme developed by A. M. Gallagher (1990) was refined, resulting in a more accurate prediction of sex differences in the mathematical sections of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Differential Item Functioning (DIF) procedures for examinees scoring over 650 indicated that the majority of items favoring males required the use of mathematical insight, while all the items flagged as favoring females required standard algorithmic solutions. Structured interviews were conducted with 25 male and 22 female high school juniors and seniors from the examinee group to study differences in strategy use. There was a substantial overlap in strategies used by males and females, but analysis across all items indicated that females were more likely than males to use algorithmic strategies, and males were more likely than females to use insightful strategies. Questionnaire data obtained from the students interviewed indicated a positive relationship for both males and females between SAT mathematical performance and positive attitudes toward mathematics. The use of algorithmic strategies was correlated with negative attitudes toward mathematics. Implications of these and other findings are discussed. Eleven tables present study findings. Four appendixes contain the following: (1) prototypical items for classification categories; (2) problems used for think-aloud protocols; (3) attitude and background questionnaire; and (4) background variables and correlations between SAT mathematics or strategy and questionnaire items. (Author/SLD)

The equating of reasonably parallel forms of College Board Achievement Tests in biology, chemistry, mathematics level II, American history and social studies, and French is discussed. Results of the following five equating methods are compared: (1) Tucker; (2) Levine equally reliable; (3) Levine unequally reliable; (4) frequency estimation equipercentile; and (5) chained equipercentile. These methods are used with an internal common-item anchor-test data collection design and three sampling strategies (random samples from populations similar in ability level, random samples from populations of dissimilar ability, and samples from dissimilar populations constructed to be similar by matching on the basis of a covariate such as the distribution of scores on a set of common items). Results indicate that it may be difficult, and in some cases impossible, to equate achievement tests using new-form and old-form samples from populations differing in ability level. All these equating methods appear to be affected by group differences in ability, with the Tucker and frequency estimation equipercentile methods the most affected, and the chained equipercentile and the two Levine procedures the most robust. Matching cannot be recommended for rectifying sample ability-level differences. There are 17 tables of study data, 33 figures, and a list of 16 references. (Author/SLD)

Beginning in 1972, the average Scholastic Aptitude Test Verbal (SAT-V) score for men has been higher than that for women. This study created a detailed history of the content of SAT-V sections over the last two and a half decades and examined the changes of test content and trends over time in the balance of references to and representations of women and men within the content of the test. A total of 153 forms of the test was identified as having been used since 1963. Overall review indicated that the shift in content that was most noteworthy was the elimination of the synthesis reading passage in 1974. The relative proportions of item types have otherwise been fairly constant, as has the relative balance between science content and humanistic content. During the 1960-1987 period SAT candidates encountered women subjects or female-related language only rarely, but the trend has been to reduce the disparity between male and female language. Changes in content do not support the hypothesis that content has been responsible for increased male scores. Although the trend toward male-dominated language has been reduced, there has not been a corresponding increase in females' scores. Further research will be necessary to clarify the reasons for the score differences. Three appendixes give classification codes, a summary report for October 1960 to June 1987 scores, and the ordering of SAT-V item types. (Contains 1 figure, 17 tables, and 19 references.) (SLD)

A 2-year project designed to identify and meet the needs of America's independent scholars is described. Project objectives were to: increase visibility and support for independent scholarship; learn more about independent scholars and their activities and organizations; identify the main problems and needs of independent scholars; stimulate greater institutional responsiveness; and encourage self-organization of independent scholars. Vignettes of independent scholars are included that suggest that scholarship outside of academe has assumed a diversity of new institutional forms and organizational arrangements. Descriptions of 20 organizations outside academe are included. In addition, major problems faced by independent scholars are identified, including: released time, colleagueship, publishing opportunities/incentives, support service/facilities, and funding. An overview of the 1982 National Conference on Independent Scholarship is included, along with recommendations for the following groups: academe; humanities councils, foundations, and funding agencies; independent scholars and their organizations; learned societies; libraries; and the scholarly publishing community. Appendices include a list of conference participants and advisory committee members and an annotated bibliography. (SW)

This is part 2 of a report on the adult independent learning program issued by the Office of Library Independent Study and Guidance Projects of the College Entrance Examination Board, and nine participating public libraries. The framework of the evaluation and its application is detailed, and the aggregate results presented include profiles of learners, services, institutions involved, and communications. The evaluation leads to policy considerations of service feasibility, service demand and cost, data systems' effectiveness at the individual library level, and recommendations for dissemination of this approach. It is found that the project generated increased attention to the need for providing more and better quality services to adults through the public library, and that it demonstrated the successful integration of the Learner's Advisory Service with program planning and evaluation management. It also led to the formation of the Consortium for Public Library Innovation. It identified the conditions which must be met for the Learner's Advisory Service to succeed as well as the background and training requirements associated with designing, modeling and implementing the service. Appendices to the report contain descriptions of advisory and information support services, and copies of the data collection forms and recording instructions. (WBC)

Findings and recommendations of the College Scholarship Service (CSS) Student Advisory Committee following a series of hearings conducted in seven states with the cosponsorship of the National Student Educational Fund and various state student organizations are presented. The report articulates and documents some of the problems that students frequently encounter in learning about, applying for, and obtaining financial aid to support their postsecondary educational objectives. Major themes identified at the hearings are discussed. After reviewing hundreds of different individual student cases, the CSS Student Committee concludes that on a comparative basis the financial aid system costs are higher for educationally and economically disadvantaged persons. The bureaucratic hurdles are placed before those who have the least experience in dealing with such barriers to financial aid. Specific recommendations are made that deal with: financial aid information; financial aid counseling; financial aid offices; grant aid; loan aid; work aid; student budgets; and independent and married students. (LBH)

Eleven library systems throughout the country have been developing detailed plans for offering services to the adult independent learner. Each system organized a planning and evaluation task force, composed of library administrators and representatives from library staffs who were to be responsible for developing the service plans. The development of detailed plans was scheduled to take place over a one-year period with the assistance of the national office. This document presents summary statements prepared by participating project libraries regarding their proposed programs of service. The program summaries provide some insight into the different forms of service for the adult self-directed learner that are possible in a variety of public library settings. Libraries reporting here are: Atlanta, Denver, Enoch Pratt (Baltimore, Md.), Woodbridge (N.J.), Miami-Dade, Portland (Maine), St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Tulsa City-County, and Cleveland. (Author/LS)

The College Level Examination Program (CLEP) is a credit by examination program offered by the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) as an alternative to formal college education for independent learners. In 1970 the CEEB began to work with public libraries in providing help to the independent learner who wished to participate in the CLEP program, and later expanded the program to other adults. The CEEB, the Council on Library Resources, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the U.S. Office of Education are jointly funding the Office of Library Independent Study Projects (OLISP) of the CEEB. A pilot program of service to independent learners was implemented in a few libraries. Then 800 libraries and 1037 librarians were surveyed to find participants for the full scale program. With the help of seminars, workshops, and guidance from OLISP, the participating libraries have developed their adult independent learning programs, and will implement them after some further planning and testing. Appendixes include sample study guides and reading lists, library and librarian survey forms, and sample plans of participating libraries. (LS)

This national Admissions Testing Program Summary Report includes comprehensive records of all 1973-74 seniors, wherever located, who registered for the college boards before April of their senior year. Some highlights include the facts that most achievement test score averages of 1973-74 seniors were higher than those of 1972-73 seniors, and the the 1973-74 class was the first to have as many women as men take the SAT. Descriptive information indicates that 14 percent of the students belong to an ethnic minority, and that 40 percent plan to seek help in college in finding part-time work. Three-fourths of the seniors were in the highest two-fifths of their class, with their latest grades in academic areas averaging 3.0 or B. Health-related majors were the first choice field of post-secondary study for nearly one-fifth of the young women, with the popularity of education decreasing for both sexes; biological sciences were the most popular fields. The report also includes information on how to obtain other ATP summaries. (Author/PC)

The current treatment of student resources in the College Scholarship Service (CSS) need analysis procedures is reviewed, and suggestions for change in these procedures are offered. There is evidence to indicate that some increase in expected contribution from summer earnings should be made, but the amount of such an increase is difficult to determine. Figures derived are: prefreshman, $500; presophomore, $600; prejunior, $700; presenior, $700. Recommendations are made for changes in the current treatment of students' assets in the Parents' Confidential Statement processing system. It is proposed that the current treatment of a student's social security benefits be modified to provide for their inclusion in family income rather than as a student resource. No changes are being proposed in the current treatment for veterans' benefits (i.e., vocational-rehabilitation payments, war-orphan benefits). These are specifically student benefits and are made available to meet the specific costs of postsecondary education, and their inclusion as a part of student resources is believed to be appropriate. (LBH)

The Office of Library Independent Study and Guidance Projects, College Entrance Examination Board and 11 participating public libraries report on the adult independent learning program. This is a historical and descriptive analysis of accomplishments between July, 1972, and June, 1975. Coverage includes project planning and coordinating activities at the national level, and service planning, staff training, and service testing and evaluation at the individual library level. The data represent the first efforts of the participating libraries to describe the adult independent learner, to characterize learning projects, and to evaluate the effectiveness of in-depth advisory and information support services. Appendixes contain training manuals, a sample training plan, and common data system forms. (Author/LS)

Some one million college bound students, who were high school seniors during 1974-75 previously participated in the College Board's Admissions Testing Program (ATP), which included the Scholarship Aptitude Test (SAT), the Test of Standard Written English, the Student Descriptive Questionnaire, and the ATP Achievement Tests. These tests created a wide range of information about: (1) student socioeconomic characteristics, (2) academic performance in high school, (3) test scores, (4) student plans for advanced placement and advanced degrees, and (5) first choice intended field of study. The ATP summary report contributes information to understanding how various personal, social, and academic factors are involved as college-bound seniors become affiliated with individual college and systems of colleges. The report, prepared at a national, regional, and state level is useful in comparison with institutional data. (Author/KE)

This review examines the accuracy and the concurrent and predictive validity of brief self-report information, and evaluates the promise and problems involved in its practical use. In section one, the power of self-report information for predicting and understanding grades is reviewed. In the second section, research on the influence of background and personal information on students' progress through higher education is summarized. The third section deals with the prediction of creative or high level accomplishment. The fourth section reviews the increase in the understanding of students' educational backgrounds that biographical information provides. In the fifth section, the power of biographical information to predict vocational choices and vocational success is reviewed. The sixth section is a review of the technical and theoretical requirements of effective biographical and self-report information systems. In the last section, the general functions of biographical data are considered. Throughout the review, emphasis is placed on predictive validity of the measures in educational settings because the power of a variable to predict later performance or choices is necessary before the variable can be used for guidance or sectioning. However, wherever warranted, other aspects of the use of self-report information are also discussed. (RC)