Incremental Validity of the Act Test Battery for Predicting Success in a School of Nursing Over a 10-Year Period

Abstract

The incremental effectiveness of the American College Testing Program Examination (ACT) was studied along with the effectiveness of the ACT alone and of high school grade-point average alone in predicting differential success in a three-year nurses' training program for 199 students over a 10-year period. Both high school grade-point average and ACT scores alone and combined were significantly related to first-, second-, and third-year grade-point averages of students in the school of nursing as evidenced by significant (p < .01) zero-order and multiple correlation coefficients. These zero-order and multiple correlation coefficients were converted to indices of forecasting efficiency which showed an increase in predictive power greater than 100% for each of the three years when the ACT was used to supplement high school grade-point average to predict grades in the school of nursing.