The Impact of Reweighting the AT-SAT Subtests on Group Score Differences

The Air Traffic Selection and Training (AT-SAT) test battery is an aptitude test that was developed as the selection tool for the Federal Aviation Administration Air Traffic Control Specialists (ATCSs). Before operational use, however, concerns were raised about the low scores of incumbent ATCS personnel (who participated in the initial research) and score differences between groups, which could result in adverse impact (possible unfair discrimination). To address these concerns, the subscores of the AT-SAT were reweighted and the constant was changed to yield a new total score. This study found that the new weighting formula has benefited all groups and is likely to reduce the potential of adverse impact.