An Evaluation of the Student Testing Program (STP97) Norming Sample
Published Date: December 1, 2003
This analysis was conducted in support of the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) and its effort to provide norms for the Student Testing Program (STP). Through the STP, free testing on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is provided to high schools for use with students in the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. Norms are also provided for postsecondary students in two-year colleges. The data were collected during a nationwide administration of the ASVAB as part of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97). The objective of our analysis is to evaluate the suitability of the data for use in developing test norms for the STP. We examined the underlying demographics of the data and concluded that the data for students in the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades were suitable for the development of norms. This follows because the sample is representative of the target population with respect to all demographic variables known to be important correlates of test scores. The data sample for the postsecondary students was somewhat problematic but may be improved by weighting on appropriate demographic variables.
