The Predictive Validity of the Gre General Test for Disabled Students

From the fall of 1981 through June, 1984, more than 850 disabled examinees took special administrations of the GRE. Through efforts involving more than 400 graduate schools, grade point averages were obtained on 278 of these disabled students, about 236 of whom had data complete enough to be included in the study. Disabled students earned lower mean GRE scores than their nonhandicapped counterparts, but, except for visually impaired students, they earned overall graduate grade point averages very close to those of nonhandicapped students. Differences in the GRE performance of blind students compared to students with other visual disabilities raised questions for further research. The predictive validity of the GRE scores obtained in nonstandard administrations was estimated with empirical Bayes procedures. The differences between actual and predicted grade point averages were more negative for disabled students, and the correlations between predicted and actual scores more modest than results for nonhandicapped students. In addition a distinctive pattern was observed for disabled students: higher predicted FYA scores were accompanied by increased overprediction. However, considerable caution was recommended in interpreting the results of the study because of the lack of information on nonhandicapped students in the same departments as disabled students.