The health benefits of physical activity are empirically supported and well accepted. However, the relationship between physical activity, physical fitness, and academic performance remains to be clearly established. The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between physical fitness and academic achievement among a sample of…

Boys struggle academically and behaviorally more than girls and are more likely to have difficulty with social skills. It seems likely that boys and girls do not perceive social skills in the same light. Past research has not investigated this or its relationship to academic and behavioral performance. Using data from a cohort of 9th-grade…

Problem: Higher education serves many stakeholders including students, parents, faculty, staff, university administrators, and other contributors. Those stakeholders are all linked with one purpose: the success of the student. That success or failure is most commonly measured by achievement through grade point average (GPA). The academic demands…

We present a methodological improvement for calculating Grade Point Averages (GPAs). Heterogeneity in grading between courses systematically biases observed GPAs for individual students: the GPA observed depends on course selection. We show how a logistic model can account for course selection by simulating how every student in a sample would…

Tracking the difference between the time a first-year student is allowed to register for a course and the time he or she does register for a course (a student's registration delay), we notice a negative correlation between registration delay and final grade in a course. The difference between a student who registers within the first two minutes…

Engaging in ongoing assessment is key to libraries demonstrating their value to their institutions. This study is an initial step in a STEM library's long-term goal of measuring the library's connection to, and impact on, student academic success markers such as retention and persistence. Initial results showed that any library usage was always…

The transition from eighth grade to high school results in a substantial drop in course performance for many students. These declines in performance lead students to fall off-track for obtaining high school and college degrees. By using data on students' middle grade performance, high school staff can set goals for their students to help them meet…

Men's alcohol expectancies are an important cognitive-behavioral component of their consumption; yet, sparse research details such behaviors for men in two-year colleges. Selected for inclusion with the current study were 563 men from seven Illinois community colleges. Logistic regression analysis indicated four significant, positive relationships…

This booklet is addressed to beginning high school students, discussing what many researchers consider the most important year of high school, perhaps the most important year of school so far. Freshman year will set the stage for whether a student graduates and whether he or she will be ready for college. Citing years of study, the Consortium on…

In 2001, Illinois began administering the ACT (American College Testing) test to all 11th graders in Illinois public schools as part of the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE). For the first time, ACT scores and background information were available for most public-school students who would be completing high school one year later, rather than…

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between the American College Test (A.C.T.) composite score and academic success or failure as indicated by the GPA and state-board licensing examination score of students and graduates at College of Lake County, Grayslake, Illinois LPN program. Subjects were 132 graduates and 34 currently…

Despite increasing recognition that a high school diploma is a minimum requirement for success in the workplace, nearly half of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students fail to graduate, and in some CPS high schools, more students drop out than graduate. Research on dropping out has shown that the decision to persist in or leave school is affected by…

The relationship between scores on the American College Test (ACT) and grade point averages of first-time college freshmen after the first year of study was investigated by correlating ACT composite scores and grade point averages (GPAs). ACT scores and GPAs were obtained for 100 first-time freshmen at an urban state university in Illinois. There…