Contact: Pam Willenz
Public Affairs Office
(202) 336-5707 (until 8/6)
(416) 597-8188 (between 8/7-8/10)

EMBARGO: NOT FOR RELEASE UNTIL 2:00 PM (EDT) AUGUST 9, 2003

PSYCHOLOGY ADDRESSES THE PROBLEM WITH COLLEGE ADMISSIONS TESTS AND OFFERS SOLUTION

TORONTO — Standardized tests, such as the SAT, often do a poor job predicting who will do well in college, says APA president Robert J. Sternberg, Ph.D. He offers a solution to this problem with his Rainbow Project – a test to augment the SATs that increases the prediction of college success and also reduces the differences in testing results between ethnic groups.

In his address at the 111th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association (APA) in Toronto, Sternberg will explain how The Rainbow Project works as a test based on the theory of successful intelligence and measures analytical, creative and practical skills through paper and pencil techniques along with other performance measures.

Robert J. Sternberg, Ph.D., APA President, Yale University, The Rainbow Project: What’s Wrong With College Admissions and How Psychology Can Fix It. Dr. Sternberg will discuss why there is a need for new tests for college admissions, what forms these tests can take, how they can become more valid and why they will equalize the admissions process.

Presentation: “The Rainbow Project: What’s Wrong With College Admissions and How Psychology Can Fix It,” Session 3211, 2:00 – 2:50 PM, August 9, 2003, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, South Building, Meeting Room Level, Meeting Room 716B

Contact information:

Robert J. Sternberg, PhD
Yale University
(203) 432-4633

The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world’s largest association of psychologists. APA’s membership includes more than 150,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 53 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting health, education and human welfare.

# # #