cut-off scores

[Don Lehr]

Hello everyone – I am returning to the list after years of not having to do
anything statistical - so I'm rusty. I am currently in charge of a project
in which I need to determine cut-off scores for a standardized test to
determine which students will be selected for remedial training. My main
concern is targeting students who are likely to drop out of the school
before graduating. I have many years of data to pull from with three types
of test scores (reading, writing and math) as well as whether or not they
graduated. My first idea was to simply set the cutoff scores between one to
two standard deviations lower than the mean for the graduated group – but
this would not take into account the scores from the other two tests (the
cumulative effect). What is the standard procedure for setting cut-off
scores such as I need?

[Melissa Ives]

I don't know how 'standard' it is, but if you have retrospective data,
you could use AnswerTree (CHAID) to look at scores by dropped out to see
where the cut off is for them.  Then apply those cut-offs to the current
students.

Melissa

-----Original Message-----
From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
Don Lehr
Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 6:36 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [SPSSX-L] cut-off scores

Hello everyone - I am returning to the list after years of not having to
do anything statistical - so I'm rusty. I am currently in charge of a
project in which I need to determine cut-off scores for a standardized
test to determine which students will be selected for remedial training.
My main concern is targeting students who are likely to drop out of the
school before graduating. I have many years of data to pull from with
three types of test scores (reading, writing and math) as well as
whether or not they graduated. My first idea was to simply set the
cutoff scores between one to two standard deviations lower than the mean
for the graduated group - but this would not take into account the
scores from the other two tests (the cumulative effect). What is the
standard procedure for setting cut-off scores such as I need?


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