Correlational evidence suggests that high school GPA is better than admission test scores in predicting first-year college GPA, although test scores have incremental predictive validity. The usefulness of a selection variable in making admission decisions depends in part on its predictive validity, but also on institutions' selectivity and…

Education officials and journalists frequently track changes over time in the average ACT® College Readiness Assessment Composite scores and ACT College Readiness Benchmark attainment rates of individual high schools. Using standard statistical methods, I examined how often changes in these statistics are unambiguously positive or negative, rather…

Ample correlational evidence indicates that high school GPA is usually better than admission test scores in predicting first-year college GPA, although test scores have incremental predictive validity. Many people conclude that this correlational evidence translates directly to usefulness in making admission decisions. The issue of usefulness is…

For more than two decades, education authorities have warned that the reading, writing, mathematics, and science skills of America's young adults are insufficient to maintain its economic strength. Some indicators suggest that the average educational achievement of high school students in the U.S. is mediocre in comparison to that of other…

This study compared the cross-validated accuracy of American College Test (ACT) Composite score and high school grade point average (GPA) (HSAV) for predicting different levels of first-year college GPA. Logistic regression models were developed by institution, for predicting GPA levels of 2.00, 2.50, 3.00, 3.25, 3.50, and 3.75 or higher. These…

A study examined the appropriateness of two methods for relating the enhanced American College Testing Program (ACT) Assessment Composite and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) total scores: equipercentile concordance and regression. Study results, potential inaccuracies, and the usefulness of institutional concordances based on their own data are…

The High School Course/Grade Information Section (CGIS) of the American College Testing (ACT) Assessment registration folder collects detailed information about the courses students have taken or plan to take in high school, and the grades they have earned in courses they have completed. In this study, data provided by students on the CGIS were…

A study attempted to verify earlier research results suggesting that college-bound students' self-reporting of coursework and grades is relatively accurate. It also examined whether different subgroups of students (categorized by sex, racial-ethnic group, ability level, educational level, and date tested) varied significantly in their reporting…

The American College Testing (ACT) Program offers research services through which colleges can predict the freshman grades of their future students. This paper describes research done to establish a minimum sample size requirement for calculating least-squares prediction equations for college freshman grade average. Prediction equations were…

This paper considers the problem of validating placement procedures or, more precisely, of determining their educational appropriateness. At issue is determining whether a test score serves the particular educational function it was designed to serve (for example, course placement), and whether it does so in an economical way. These determinations…

College freshmen's grade point averages at 260 colleges were predicted on the basis of multiple regression equations using the four previous classes separately to compute the equations. Predictor variables were four American College Test (ACT) scores and high school grades. Predictions remained accurate over the four-year period. (Author/CTM)

This study compared the effectiveness of American College Testing (ACT) Composite score and high school grade point average (GPA) for predicting different levels of first-year college GPA. Logistic regression models were estimated for predicting first-year GPA levels ranging from 2.00 to 3.75 for a sample of postsecondary institutions. The…

This report addresses the problem of sample size in developing prediction equations for college freshman grade averages under the American College Testing (ACT) Assessment Program. For the ACT Assessment, the prediction weights are estimated by standard least squares procedures. Because prediction weights are estimated regression coefficients…

Whether adjustments to differential prediction observed among sex, racial/ethnic, or age subgroups in a college-level freshman class could be used to improve grade prediction accuracy for these subgroups in future freshman classes was studied. This study is based on the American College Testing program test scores, high school grades, and college…

This paper describes the efforts of the Talent Identification Program (TIP) of North Carolina to relate American College Testing (ACT) Assessment and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores of academically talented seventh graders. The study was also designed to interpret the results in the context of "concordance" studies that have been…