Ability Level Of Students Research Articles

ACADEMIC GROWTH IN PREDOMINANTLY NEGRO AND PREDOMINANTLY WHITE COLLEGES

ABSTRACTSeven predominantly white colleges were matched (according to purposes, type of control, and ability level of students) with seven predominantly Negro colleges to compare student academic growth. The sample consisted of 406 students from the former and 327 from the latter. All had taken the Area tests of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) Institutional Testing Program as college seniors and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) as entering freshmen.No significant differences were found between the two racial groups in GRE Social Science or Natural Science scores when SAT scores were used as covariates. Inspection of regression lines within each of the fourteen colleges also supported the conclusion that neither group of colleges was any more or less effective in student academic growth as measured by the GRE Area Tests.

Illustrative Problems in College‐Level Grading

Data from several institutional studies on collegiate grading are presented and warrant the following conclusions: Overtly, grading appears to be uniform and constant, but rising ability levels of students raise a question about consistency. This nonyielding grading distribution makes sequence courses particularly demanding. Wide variations in grade averages in multiple section courses again open up questions about consistency, especially because these fluctuations show no apparent relationship to student quality. Wide variations in grade averages for similar courses also raise questions about the meaningfulness of resulting grades.

Some Relationships Between Ability and Self-Reported Grades

SEVERAL RECENT NATIONAL sample surveys of college students have used undergraduate grades as a measure of performance, and to some extent as a proxy variable for ability when actual ability measures were unavailable.' In order to make these grades comparable for students who had attended different colleges, grades were adjusted to take account of differences in the average ability level of students in the colleges. In two large and important national follow-up studies of college students (see footnote 1), the average ability level of students attending different colleges was estimated from data on the number of National Merit scholars indicating the college as their first choice. These estimated differences in college selectivity were then used to adjust the self-reported grades, so that a C+ or C from a selective college was rated the same as an A-, B+, or B from an unselective college. As a part of the work of the Commission on Human Resources and Advanced Education, it was possible to make a direct appraisal of the adequacy of the adjustment that was applied, and also to examine the relation between ability and grades in different fields, because it is widely believed that grading standards differ in different fields, and that some fields have tougher grading standards than others.

RELATIONSHIPS AMONG CEEB SCHOLASTIC APTITUDE TEST AND AMERICAN COLLEGE TEST SCORES AND GRADE POINT AVERAGE1

In the past five years there has been an increase of approximately 40 percent in the number of fulltime freshmen enrolled in institutions of higher education in the United States (Yonge, 1965). Limitations in physical facilities and the increasing shortage of well-qualified faculty have necessitated applicants be selected with more careful scrutiny than ever before. With the post-World War II babies reaching college age it is quite possible that the situation will become worse before it gets better. This problem is further exacerbated by the fact that the mean ability level of college students over the past ten years has increased (Yonge, 1965). Thus the selection of students for admission to college has become a controversial issue of concern not only to applicants and colleges but also has ramifications of a value nature for national policy regarding the education of people with high ability and talent.

Ability Levels of Students Transferring between the School of Education and the College of Arts and Science at Miami University During Calendar Year 1960

Ability Levels of Students Transferring between the School of Education and the College of Arts and Science at Miami University During Calendar Year 1960