Assessing the Construct Validity of a Life Skills Competency Test.

The proliferation of minimum competency testing in recent years has not resulted in a critical analysis of the construct validity of such tests. The present study examined the dimensionality and construct validity of an urban life skills competency test (the 1987 eighth-grade Chicago Minimum Proficiency Skills Test (MPST) via linear analysis. The MPST is a 63-item multiple choice test. Three computerized random samples of 880, 879, and 879 Chicago public elementary school students (Grade 8) were selected for analysis. Results of a double cross-validation factor analysis identified one factor underlying performance on the test. This factor was stable across three independent samples. This derived factor was highly correlated with reading and math sub-tests of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. Thus, life skills competency tests may not be operationally different than traditional achievement tests. Additional validity studies are needed. Four tables are included. (Author/TJH)