GSP Testing as a Student Screener in Journalism Schools: Investigating its Predictors and its Ability to Predict

Abstract

A review of more than 1,250 college graduates' transcripts revealed that scores on a Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation test can best be predicted by the score received on the English portion of the ACT. GSP test scores and grades earned in college introductory English composition classes, considered in tandem, then offer the best insight into how mass communication students will perform in an introductory media writing course. When majors within the college/school are considered, the GSP performs most poorly at predicting writing grades among journalism students, who comprise the very group for whom the test was initially created.