Three brief assessments of math achievement

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Educational Measurement
• Mathematics Education

Background:

• College students exhibit significant variation in math achievement, necessitating its assessment in cognitive processing studies.
• Existing comprehensive math achievement tests are often impractical for research due to cost and time constraints.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate brief, practical math achievement tests for use in research settings.
• To provide researchers with a viable alternative to lengthy, expensive standardized math assessments.

Main Methods:

• Three brief math achievement tests were developed: two adapted from the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) and one using non-copyrighted items.
• The developed brief tests were correlated with a full math achievement test and a measure of math anxiety.
• Reliability analyses were conducted on the brief tests.

Main Results:

• All three brief math achievement tests showed substantial correlations with the full achievement test.
• The brief tests also demonstrated significant correlation with math anxiety.
• Reliability estimates for the brief tests ranged from acceptable to excellent.

Conclusions:

• Brief math achievement tests can serve as effective substitutes for longer assessments when time and resources are limited.
• These validated brief tests facilitate the inclusion of math achievement measures in cognitive processing research.
• The developed instruments offer a practical approach to understanding math knowledge disparities in college students.