We derived an index of high school academic rigor (HSAR) by optimizing the prediction of first-year college GPA (FYGPA) based on high school courses taken, grades, and indicators of advanced coursework. Using a large data set and nominal parameterization of high school course outcomes, the HSAR index capitalizes on differential contributions…

In the context of college admissions, the current study examined whether differential prediction of first-year grade point average (FYGPA) by gender could be explained by an omitted variable problem--namely, academic discipline, or the amount of effort a student puts into schoolwork and the degree to which a student sees him/herself as hardworking…

We examined the validity of 10 psychosocial factors for predicting retention status (stay, transfer, or drop out) at the start of second year of college by fitting a mixed-effects multinomial logistic regression model. Data consisted of retention records of 9,364 students from 31 four-year institutions. Predictors included commonly used variables…

We derived an index of high school academic rigor by optimizing the prediction of first-year college GPA based on high school courses taken, grades, and indicators of advanced coursework. Using a large data set (n~108,000) and nominal parameterization of high school course outcomes, the high school academic rigor (HSAR) index capitalizes on…

Prior research has demonstrated gaps in the academic success of college student subgroups defined by race/ethnicity, income, and gender. We studied trends over time in the success of students in these subgroups in particular first-year college courses: English Composition I, College Algebra, social science courses, and Biology. The study is based…