This is an application of contemporary multilevel regression modeling to the prediction of academic performances of 1st-year college students. At a first level of analysis, the data come from N greater than 16,000 students who were college freshman in 1994-1995 and who were also participants in high-level college athletics. At a second level of…

Set correlation is a multivariate generalization of multiple regression/correlation analysis that features the employment of overall measures of association interpretable as proportions of variance and the use of set-partialled sets of variables. The statistical development of the theory and several examples are presented. (Author/JKS)

Methods for comparing the suitability of alternative models for covariance matrices are examined. A cross-validation procedure is suggested and its properties examined. A series of examples using longitudinal data are examined. (Author/JKS)