Basic Skills Mastery of New Jersey's College Bound Students. Occasional Papers in Education.

Reflecting concern with the nationwide decline in basic skills mastery, the 1975 statewide basic skills tests of the New Jersey Educational Assessment Program (NJEAP) were used to assess the relative performance of college bound seniors. The results of a random 10% sample of the 55,000 students in college preparatory programs were compared with the results of the 93,000 students taking the test statewide. College preparatory student results were higher than the total state scores for all reading and mathematics items and approximated the results in the school districts with the highest socioeconomic status. The results indicated that college preparatory students mastered most of the basic skills concepts in reading and mathematics as measured by the statewide tests. However, the NJEAP may not be a good predictor of college performance, since other tests administered by New Jersey colleges to their students show that 30-50% of college students are deficient in the basic skills of reading and mathematics. (Author/CP)