Achievement in criminal justice: An analysis of graduating seniors

Abstract

Pressure from legislative bodies and the public for accountability in higher education has been associated with programs to gauge student's knowledge through means such as achievement tests. Yet little scholarly work is available on these programs. The present study explores the determinants of scores on a standardized criminal justice achievement test; some significant determinants of scores might be manipulated in efforts to improve program participants' scores in the future. A series of predictor variables are drawn from the literature on educational achievement and attainment. Past academic achievement or GPA was the variable most closely associated with the variance in test scores; transfer students had significantly lower test scores than nontransfer students; males had higher scores than females. The model explains 45 percent of the variance in test scores. The results suggest that the manipulation of some, but not most, student input variables might improve results.