Test Fairness and Validity

Ensuring the fairness and validity of GRE tests throughout the test development, administration and scoring processes is a high priority. To ensure that these goals are reached, ETS has developed a meticulous system of internal checks and balances, and audit teams routinely verify that all tests and services meet rigorous professional standards such as those outlined by APA, AERA and NCME. In addition, our Research & Development team conducts surveys, committee work, extensive data analysis and a variety of studies that focus on measurements, evaluations and comparisons.

Fairness

Fairness concerns are an integral part of the development and scoring of all tests. The many activities that ensure fairness include:

employing specially trained fairness reviewers to ensure test questions meet rigorous standards
pilot-testing, pretesting and ongoing statistical analyses of test questions to ensure questions are fair and that they do not unfairly contribute to group differences
rigorous training for all persons involved in the development or scoring of test questions to ensure that all examinees have an equal opportunity to demonstrate their skills and abilities
appropriate accommodations (e.g., alternate formats, extra time) for test takers who have disabilities or health-related needs

Validity

Validity research and analyses establish that the test measures what it is supposed to measure. Aspects of the validity argument supporting appropriate use of GRE scores include:

construct validity (the test measures the skills/abilities that should be measured)
content validity (the test measures appropriate content)
predictive validity (the test predicts success)
consequential validity (when used appropriately as part of a holistic review, the test demonstrates that adverse consequences are minimal)
external validity (the test has the expected relationship with other measures of the same construct)

Although ETS works to accumulate validity evidence at each stage of the delivery and scoring process, the initial direction for validity research derives from feedback from members of the graduate school community, including business and law, who provide information about the skills and abilities that they consider essential for success in graduate-level programs.

Construct and content validity are two aspects of the validity argument that support the GRE Program.

Construct validity means the test measures the skills/abilities that should be measured.
Content validity means the test measures appropriate content.

ETS gathers information from graduate and professional school programs, including business and law schools, about the skills that they consider essential for success in their programs.

Verbal Reasoning section

The Verbal Reasoning section of the GRE General Test measures skills that faculty have identified through surveys as important for graduate-level success. The capabilities that are assessed include:

the ability to understand text (such as the ability to understand the meanings of sentences, to recognize an accurate summary of a text or to distinguish major points from irrelevant points in a passage); and
the ability to interpret discourse (such as the ability to draw conclusions, to infer missing information or to identify assumptions).

Quantitative Reasoning section

The Quantitative Reasoning section of the GRE General Test measures skills that are consistent with those outlined in the Mathematical Association of America's Quantitative Reasoning for College Graduates: A Complement to the Standards, and that are based on feedback from faculty surveys. The skills that are assessed in the GRE Quantitative Reasoning measure include:

reading and understanding quantitative information
interpreting and analyzing quantitative information, including drawing inferences from data
using mathematical methods to solve quantitative problems

Analytical Writing Section

Interviews with graduate-level faculty, surveys of graduate-level faculty and the work of the GRE Writing Test Committee have consistently identified critical thinking and writing skills as important for success in graduate programs.

The two tasks that comprise the Analytical Writing section (evaluating an issue and evaluating an argument) are both considered essential in many fields of graduate study. Thus, the structure of the test can be shown to have content validity because the test assesses skills identified by the graduate community as essential for success in many fields of graduate-level work.

At ETS we rely on a rigorous internal system of checks and balances to ensure fairness and validity of GRE tests and scores. Our Research & Development team conducts surveys, committee work, extensive data analysis and a variety of studies that focus on measurements, evaluations and comparisons. For more information, see the following documents:

Data Confirms GRE^® Scores are Valid Predictors of Success in MBA Programs
The Validity of GRE^® Scores for Predicting Academic Performance at U.S. Law Schools
The Research Foundation for the GRE^® revised General Test: A Compendium of Studies (PDF) — A comprehensive collection of the extensive research efforts and other activities that led to the successful launch of the GRE General Test in August 2011. Summaries of nearly a decade of research, as well as previously unreleased information about the revised test, cover a variety of topics, including the rationale for revising the test, the development process, test design, score scales, automated scoring, validity, fairness and accessibility.
A Comprehensive Review of Published GRE^® Validity Data (PDF) — Summarizes validity studies of the GRE General Test measures.
How Well Does the GRE^® General Test Predict Success for Biology Students? (PDF) — Presents analyses that show the value of the GRE General Test as an indicator of first-year graduate grades of biology students.
How Well Does the GRE^® General Test Predict Success for Chemistry Students? (PDF) — Presents analyses that show the value of the GRE General Test as an indicator of first-year graduate grades of chemistry students.
How Well Does the GRE^® General Test Predict Success for Education Students? (PDF) — Presents analyses that show the value of the GRE General Test as an indicator of first-year graduate grades of education students.
How Well Does the GRE^® General Test Predict Success for Students in English Departments? (PDF) — Presents analyses that show the value of the GRE General Test as an indicator of first-year graduate grades of English students.
How Well Does the GRE^® General Test Predict Success for Psychology Students? (PDF) — Presents analyses that show the value of the GRE General Test as an indicator of first-year graduate grades of psychology students.
Validity of the GRE^® General Test: A Case Study of Veterinary Schools (PDF)
GRE Test Validity: Putting It in Perspective (PDF)