Students are most likely to leave science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors during their first year of college. We developed an analytic approach using random forests to identify at-risk students. This method is deployable midway through the first semester and accounts for academic preparation, early engagement in university…

This study is an extension of two previous studies that provided profiles of persisting STEM majors overall (regardless of academic performance) and persisting STEM majors who earned semester GPAs of 3.0 or higher (Westrick, 2016, 2017). Using data from 25 four-year institutions, this study compared the mean ACT assessment scores, HSGPAs, and ACT…

Research has shown that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors who are more academically prepared--especially in terms of their mathematics and science test scores--are more likely to be successful across a variety of outcomes: cumulative grade point average (GPA), persistence in a STEM major, and ultimately earning a STEM…

This manual contains information about the American College Test (ACT) Plan® program. The principal focus of this manual is to document the Plan program's technical adequacy in light of its intended purposes. This manual supersedes the 2011 edition. The content of this manual responds to requirements of the testing industry as established in the…

The purpose of this paper is to examine the basic vocational interest dimensions of women. The usefulness of the basic interest dimensions when counseling with women is discussed from a practical and a theoretical point of view. (Author)

For 151 male graduates of the University of North Dakota, expressed choices measured by preferences made as high school seniors on the ACT Student Profile Section were significantly more accurate predictors of graduating college major and of career entry occupation than were their Vocational Preference Inventory high point codes. (Author)

THE PREDICTIVE VALIDITY OF A STUDENT'S EXPRESSED VOCATIONAL CHOICE WAS COMPARED WITH THE PREDICTIVE VALIDITY OF HIS SCORES ON A VOCATIONAL PREFERENCE INVENTORY. THE DATA FOR THE STUDY WAS FURNISHED BY TWO AMERICAN COLLEGE SURVEYS. STUDENTS FROM TWO NATIONWIDE SAMPLES OF 28 COLLEGES WERE POLLED FOR THEIR VOCATIONAL CHOICES AND WERE GIVEN THE SIXTH…

Investigates the importance of using levels of intellectual ability as a control variable in studies of nonintellectual factors in academic achievement and determines the utility of the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule as a supplement to academic aptitude test scores in the prediction of success in college. (Author/DEP)

The usefulness of vocational interest measures has been questioned by those who have studied the predictive validity of expressed choice. The predictive validities of measured interest for decided and undecided students, expressed choice and measured interest, and expressed choice and measured interest when they are congruent and incongruent were…

The popularity of first-year experience programs, freshman interest groups, and freshman seminars is evidence of a growing interest on the part of administrators and faculty in what happens to students during the first year of college. Theory and research indicate that students' experiences during the first year can set the tone for the remainder…

The components of academic advising and the educational benefits to students are outlined and ways in which the American College Testing (ACT) Assessment Program can help are examined. The ACT Assessment Program is designed for use by students planning to enter postsecondary education and provides a base of information about freshman advisees. The…

This manual contains preliminary information, largely of a technical nature, about the enhanced American College Testing (ACT) Program introduced in October 1989. It focuses primarily on the tests of educational development, the component of the program that has been substantially revised. Although one-third of the ACT Interest Inventory Items has…

Factors that account for variance between groups of Mississippi students in their choice of college types were studied using data from the 1991 American College Testing (ACT) Program. The objectives of this study were to describe Mississippi students who plan to attend community or junior colleges and who took the spring 1991 ACT Assessment…