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The Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) was developed to evaluate the study and learning behavior of urban Black and Hispanic students in ways not measured by existing study skills instruments. The instrument attempts to deal effectively with "non-intellectual" factors identified previously as having an impact on study and learning behavior. In a preliminary stage, the SAQ consisted of 140 5-point Likert scale items. Of these, 76 were devoted to Task Skills, 41 to Cognitions, and 23 to Affect. This version of the SAQ was administered to 681 Black and Hispanic freshmen in two New York City and one New Haven, Connecticut high school. Then, the item set was reduced by selecting out items correlated with criterion and validity measures, the remaining items were factor analyzed to develop scales, and, finally, an independent subsample was taken to test the predictive power of the scales derived through factor analysis. Overall, the questionnaire showed that some meaningful non-intellective, non-skill contributors to minority student academic performance can be empirically identified. These data suggest three avenues for further research: (1) given the surprising strength of non-intellective factors, discouragement with school and the evaluation of the school self are areas deserving more attention; (2) approaches to developing alternative instrumentation in this area must proceed carefully in the use of validity criteria; and (3) assessment of items which can discriminate between the mid-range performers and high- and low-level performers would also be of great importance. (KH)

The Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) was developed to evaluate the study and learning behavior of urban Black and Hispanic students in ways not measured by existing study skills instruments. The instrument attempts to deal effectively with "non-intellectual" factors identified previously as having an impact on study and learning behavior. In a preliminary stage, the SAQ consisted of 140 5-point Likert scale items. Of these, 76 were devoted to Task Skills, 41 to Cognitions, and 23 to Affect. This version of the SAQ was administered to 681 Black and Hispanic freshmen in two New York City and one New Haven, Connecticut high school. Then, the item set was reduced by selecting out items correlated with criterion and validity measures, the remaining items were factor analyzed to develop scales, and, finally, an independent subsample was taken to test the predictive power of the scales derived through factor analysis. Overall, the questionnaire showed that some meaningful non-intellective, non-skill contributors to minority student academic performance can be empirically identified. These data suggest three avenues for further research: (1) given the surprising strength of non-intellective factors, discouragement with school and the evaluation of the school self are areas deserving more attention; (2) approaches to developing alternative instrumentation in this area must proceed carefully in the use of validity criteria; and (3) assessment of items which can discriminate between the mid-range performers and high- and low-level performers would also be of great importance. (KH)