The percentage of students retaking college admissions tests is rising. Researchers and college admissions offices currently use a variety of methods for summarizing these multiple scores. Testing organizations such as ACT and the College Board, interested in validity evidence like correlations with first-year grade point average (FYGPA), often…

Statement of Purpose and Method of Study: Historically, Mississippi has lagged behind the rest of the nation in student achievement and funding for education. This comparative quantitative study investigated whether significant differences in student achievement as measured by mean composite ACT scores of high school juniors in Mississippi public…

In this study, I examined several ecological factors at play when students make use of test preparation. I first looked at students' usage of test preparation and followed that with an examination of the relationship between family income and test preparation use. Finally, I examined familial support in preparing for admissions exams. Many…

In recent ACT mode comparability studies, students testing on laptop or desktop computers earned slightly higher scores on average than students who tested on paper, especially on the ACT® reading and English tests (Li et al., 2017). Equating procedures adjust for such "mode effects" to make ACT scores comparable regardless of testing…

This study examined the relationship between a non-Power Five Cinderella team in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament and institutional financial and admissions factors. The purpose of this study was to examine what, if anything, changes for a non-Power Five school who makes the March Madness tournament as compared to those similar…

New ways of managing schools that save money while providing the same quality of education is always a goal. The saving of money is always needed to assure that we make the most of our tax dollars without spending more than is required. The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify the relationship between student test scores from a…

This study expands on current research that examines the impact of online courses on retention, degree completion, and student success. The researchers investigated the impact of online courses on degree completion by using existing graduation rate data, course enrollment data, and student grades for undergraduate students at a multicampus 4-year…

Although memory retrieval often enhances subsequent memory, Peterson and Mulligan (2013) reported conditions under which retrieval produces poorer subsequent recall--the negative testing effect. The item-specific--relational account proposes that the effect occurs when retrieval disrupts interitem organizational processing relative to the restudy…

The percentage of students retaking college admissions tests is rising (Harmston & Crouse, 2016). Researchers and college admissions offices currently use a variety of methods for summarizing these multiple scores. Testing companies, interested in validity evidence like correlations with college first-year grade-point averages (FYGPA), often…

The Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) curriculum emphasizes writing, collaboration, organization, and reading to strengthen academic skills. High school students enrolled in AVID elective classes receive daily academic support, while enrolled in challenging classes such as Advanced Placement (AP). The purpose of this study was to…

With the increase of students with disabilities attending post secondary education, it is important to have an understanding of how satisfied a student with a disability is with college. At present, the research on college satisfaction focuses on specific variables and how the specific variables moderate or mediate college satisfaction; however,…

Relying on the data from Utah System of Higher Education (USHE), Utah State Board of Education (USBE), and National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), this report examines college participation rates of Utah high school graduates (cohorts 2008-2017), with a focus on the gap in college participation between Caucasians and minorities. The report also…

The current focus on assessing "college and career readiness" raises an empirical question: How do high school tests compare with college admissions tests in predicting performance in college? We explored this using data from the City University of New York and public colleges in Kentucky. These two systems differ in the choice of…

College admission offices receive many different pieces of information on each applicant to their institution. The job of considering this information becomes further complicated when the information is not consistent across applicants. An example of one such complication is receiving SAT scores for some applicants and receiving ACT scores for…

In preparation for online administration of the ACT® test, ACT conducted studies to examine the comparability of scores between online and paper administrations, including a timing study in fall 2013, a mode comparability study in spring 2014, and a second mode comparability study in spring 2015. This report presents major findings from these…