The Standardized Letter of Recommendation: Implications for Selection. Research Report. ETS RR-07-38

In an effort to standardize academic application procedures, the Standardized Letter of Recommendation (SLR) was developed to capture important cognitive and noncognitive qualities of graduate school candidates. The SLR consists of seven scales ("knowledge," "analytical skills," "communication skills," "motivation," "self- organization," "professionalism and maturity," and "teamwork") and was applied to an intern-selection scenario. Both professor ratings (N = 414) during the application process and mentor ratings of the selected students (N = 51) after the internship was completed were collected using the SLR. A multidimensional Rasch investigation suggests that the seven scales of the SLR displayed satisfactory psychometric properties in terms of reliability, model fit, item fit statistics, and discrimination. The two cognitive scales, "knowledge" and "analytical skills," were found to be the best predictors for intern selection. The professor ratings and mentor ratings had moderate to high correlations, with the professor ratings being systematically higher than the mentor ratings. Possible reasons for the rating discrepancies are discussed. Also, implications for how the SLR can be used and improved in other selection situations are suggested.