A Study of High-School and First-Year University Grades

Abstract

This study of the grades of first-year students in the University of Chicago and of the relation of these grades to the high-school grades of the same students was undertaken with a view to answering the following questions: (i) To what extent does good work in the high school predict good work in the first year of college? (2) What would be the effect of raising the high-school scholarship average required for admission by the University of Chicago ? (3) How can first-year college grades be made of particular interest and value to the high-school principal? (4) Which first-year students should be given special study by the University? The students selected for this study were those who entered the University of Chicago directly from the Chicago high schools for the five years 1916-17, 1917-18, 1919-20, 1920-21, and 1921-22. They comprise 49 per cent of all of the first-year admissions during the period. A table was prepared for each school represented, in which was shown the average of each student's high-school grades together with the average of his first-year university grades. To make the comparisons more accurate, only the grades made in non-vocational high-school subjects were included. The combined results of all of these tables are shown in Table I. The scale at the left of Table I is expressed in letters and in numbers since each given by the University of Chicago has a numerical equivalent in grade The system of points affords a means of arithmetical averaging of grades and provides a basis for imposing penalties since each student is required to maintain a certain average number of points. The highschool grades at the top of the table are expressed in percentages on the basis of a passing of 75. Students from high schools having other passing marks were placed in their proper relative