The purpose of this report was to compare, after six semesters, the characteristics and attitudes of students who entered the Hawaii community college system in 1975 and who either graduated or dropped out. A comparison of the following characteristics of both groups revealed significant differences in all areas but one: sex, age at entry, marital…

A retrospective comparative analysis of data collected between 1975 and 1979 was undertaken at Westmoreland County Community College (WCCC) to quantitatively determine the impact of WCCC's developmental education program on: (1) the persistence and academic performance of underprepared students; (2) the college's financial situation; and (3) the…

Admissions procedures were examined at ten selected medical schools, between 1973 and 1975, with particular interest in comparing the procedures for minority and majority medical school applicants. An affirmative action policy was found to be operational in each of the schools, which took special pains to evaluate minority and disadvantaged…

IN AN AFTER-SCHOOL REMEDIAL EDUCATION PROGRAM 16 FIFTH- AND SIXTH-GRADE URBAN DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS WERE TAUGHT TO MASTER STANDARD INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS WITH THE SUPPORT OF TOKEN REINFORCEMENTS. THE STUDENTS HAD SCORED 2 YEARS BELOW THE READING NORM ON THE STANFORD ACHIEVEMENT TEST, AND THEIR MEDIAN IQ WAS 88. TOKEN POINTS WERE MANIPULATED…

High school and college grades are suggested to have the nature of ordinal scales rather than interval scales; hence the median is the appropriate and preferred average, rather than the mean. The use of a median grade point average has some of the major advantages of pass-fail grading. Assuming grades to be ordinal rather than interval data…

This research note reviews an analysis of Moraine Valley Community College nonpersisting students for fall 1977 and spring 1978. Information is provided on trends in transfer and occupational student retention by semester from spring 1970 through fall/spring 1977-78, and on fall 1977 and spring 1978 persister and nonpersister characteristics. Of…

The validity of seven criteria utilized in conjunction with personal interviews and School and College Ability Test scores in the selection of applicants for admission to four Allied Health programs was investigated. The independent predictor variables studied were high school grade point average (GPA), the number of high school natural science…

Current research in the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) field has not assessed the comparative ability of indirect and direct test scores to predict academic success. Work of this kind would inform practice in the area of testing and placement. This study investigates the practical problem of making appropriate placement decisions for students…

Part 1 of this study investigated possible causes of the observed decline in correlations between SAT scores and freshman grade-point average (FGPA). Working with a database of 38 colleges, the study found that the comparability of course grades received by entering freshmen declined in the 1980s. Three new measures of grade comparability-variety…

This study on default analyzes 17,036 undergraduate borrowers who attended the University of South Florida (USF), and who entered repayment on Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) loans during federal fiscal years 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. Of the 17,036 USF undergraduate borrowers, 766 defaulted (4.5 percent). The report employs a…

A St. Louis University study compared performances of 602 regular medical students with 52 high-risk but promising students admitted through a special program. Results indicated that, despite some differences in performance, particularly in certain courses and on standardized and licensing exams, the latter group could complete professional degree…

A survey of 1,793 students at nine state universities found cheating was influenced by a number of characteristics of individuals, including age, sex, and grade point average, and contextual factors, including level of cheating among peers, peer disapproval of cheating, fraternity/sorority membership, and perceived severity of penalties for…

The Department of Mathematics at Iowa State University teaches a freshman-level Discrete Mathematics course with total enrollment of about 1,800 students per year. The traditional format includes large lectures, with about 150 students each, taught by faculty and temporary instructors in two class sessions per week and recitation sections, with…

The College Board formed a research consortium with four-year colleges and universities to build a national higher education database with the primary goal of validating the SAT®, which is used in college admission and consists of three sections: critical reading (SAT-CR), mathematics (SAT-M) and writing (SAT-W). This report builds on a body of…

Admission to the California State University system is based on an eligibility index (EI) that considers high school grade point average (GPA) and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) or American College Test (ACT) scores. Whether the SAT adds to the accuracy of prediction of college success or is redundant, and whether it is biased against specific…