Students who perform well at school academically are more likely to complete Year 12 and experience smoother transitions from education to employment. However, disentangling the effects of prior academic achievement on later performance from other confounding factors, such as socioeconomic status, has proved difficult. This study uses data from…

I show that there are better measures of student college performance than grade point average (GPA) by undertaking a fine-grained empirical investigation of grading within a large public university. The value of using GPA as a measure of comparative performance is undermined by academically weaker students taking courses where the grading is more…

Participants include 89 college students from a tribal university in the Midwestern United States. A survey regarding attitudes and adjustment to campus was administered to all students during their first semester of college. Variables assessed included psychosociocultural integration factors, such as educational goals, trust of others at college,…

In 2001, the Louisiana Board of Regents adopted the "Louisiana Master Plan for Public Postsecondary Education: 2001" as a signal for new accountability standards in Louisiana institutions of higher education. The purpose of this study was to examine the power of the academic criteria utilized by the "Master Plan" to predict…

The purpose of this study was to better predict how a first semester college freshman becomes prepared for college. The theoretical framework guiding this study is Vrooms' expectancy theory, motivation plays a key role in success. This study used a hierarchical multiple regression model. The independent variables of interest included high school…

The purpose of this study is to develop a preadmission predictive model of student success for prospective first-time African American college applicants at a predominately White four-year public institution within the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. This model will use two types of variables. They are (a) cognitive variables (i.e.,…

This study sought to determine whether the use of standardized test scores contributes any useful information regarding First Time in College (FTIC) students' probable success at USF, using more detailed analysis of underrepresented minorities and women, who Micceri (2009) shows, experience substantial negative bias relative to males and whites on…

The Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL) program at the University of Minnesota has drawn from the best practices of Supplemental Instruction, Peer-Led Team Learning, Structured Learning Assistance, the Emerging Scholars Program, and other successful postsecondary peer cooperative learning models to establish guiding principles for structuring learning…

The study explored the qualifications of learning-disabled college students by examining the academic performance (first year grade point average--GPA) of 179 learning-disabled and 249 nonlearning-disabled students classified by two objective admission criteria--either Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) or high-school class rank. Overall, the scores…

Six widely used college admissions variables and four course-specific measures (tests of entering mathematical skills and physics knowledge, and indexes of previous study of mathematics and physics) were correlated with final marks for 495 students in an introductory college physics course. The college admissions variables included scores on…

A study at the Licenciate in Medicine in Spain showed the best predictors of first-year medical school grades to be science course grades, the overall admission test score, and the test score average. Implications for admissions and counseling are discussed. (Author/MSE)

The first-year performance of freshmen between 1987 and 1992 was investigated for evidence of grade inflation. Grade inflation is defined as "when a grade is viewed as being less rigorous than it ought to be". Performance data were analyzed for fall semester admissions of full-time, first-time freshmen at the University of Missouri…

The primary purpose of the study is to assess the degree to which SAT scores, high-school GPA (HSGPA) and class rank predict success in college. Data collected from students enrolled in several sections of Principles of Economics at the University of South Carolina in 2000 and 2001 are used to study the relation between college GPA (the dependent…

This study investigated whether or not the validity of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is both higher and less variable across colleges than it appears to be. Data from 99 validity studies conducted by the Validity Study Service of the College Board were used. In addition to test validities based on first-year college averages, which were…

An analysis of the new Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) and its relationship to the criterion of class standing achieved in the school year ending in the spring of 1979 has been undertaken by the University of California, Irvine, to determine the MCAT's predictive power so that test results can be used in admissions procedure. (Author/JMD)