A Markov chain is used to model the movement of undergraduates through the higher education system in Australia. Given the student's age on commencing a course of study, the model provides estimates of the probability of course completion, mean time for completion, and mean time spent in the higher education system. (Author/MSE)

The relationship between student satisfaction and performance and persistence were studied at a large midwestern, urban commuter university. A student satisfaction survey was completed by 1,643 students (out of 3,004 students), who rated their level of satisfaction with 48 specific and 5 general aspects of their college experiences. Performance…

This study examined the statistical and institutional influences on the prediction of first-year college grades. The sources of information were the Validity Study Services file which summarizes the results of College Board validity studies and the College Handbook file which includes data about college characteristics. The criterion was the size…

Methods for predicting specific college course grades, based on small numbers of observations, were investigated. These methods use collateral information across potentially diverse institutions to obtain refined within-group parameter estimates. One method, referred to as pooled least squares with adjusted intercepts, assumes that slopes and…

The National Teachers Examination (NTE) core battery tests are designed to be an objective measure of academic achievement for students entering teacher education programs (Parts I and II) and for seniors completing such programs (Part III). Passing these tests at specified levels is a requirement in North Carolina. While the cut-off scores for…

A system to identify the potential dropout was studied at a two-year urban institution. All entering freshmen participating in a compulsory freshmen orientation course were administered a biographical inventory during the fifth week of enrollment. An academic or scholastic index was derived, based on high school averages and basic skills placement…

This study examined the relationship and relative importance of selected variables to successful performance of urban community college students on the American College Testing Program (ACT) College Outcome Measures Program (COMP). The importance of age, race, gender, type of degree, program or major category, admissions criteria and ACT…

Pre-enrollment characteristics that distinguish nonpersisting students from students who persist into the second semester of their freshman year were studied at the University of Iowa in 1978. Three sources of information were used to obtain predictor variables: American College Testing (ACT) program test scores, the ACT Student Profile, and high…

Variables that correlate highly with success in obtaining 1978 external funding for research among the 338 member institutions of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) were studied. It was found that AASCU institutions that have been successful in obtaining outside funds for research purposes do tend to place more…

Entrance requirements and a weeding process conducted by way of a pre-engineering mathematics program act as a restriction on the number of students graduating with engineering degrees. This study examined the relationship between entrance requirements and the degree of student success upon graduation, as well as the validity of the weeding effect…

Although the Intellectual Development (ID) index was constructed using standard psychometric procedures, the derivation of the other two indexes, Socio Intellectual Status (SIS) and Differential Intellectual Development (DID), by criterion scaling should have applications in diverse areas of scale or index construction. The ID is basically…

Student and test characteristics were examined by multiple regression analysis and discriminant function analysis to explain why 171 political science undergraduates scored differently on essay versus objective final examinations. Student characteristics included: (1) patterns of creative, crystallized, and fluid abilities as measured by the…

A study compared a Modified Area Skill Survey (MASS) with a Modified Industry/Occupation Matrix (MIOM) method of projecting manpower demand. The comparison was made with regard to the bias and precision of the estimates of the two projection methods on populations of varying size. To achieve the comparison, each method was applied to the same…

Impacts of the parents' divorce and the student's academic potential and drug use on non-completion of high school were examined using 3 methods of structural equation modeling with latent variables. Data were collected from 706 adolescents (in grades 10 through 12). Maximum likelihood, asymptotically distribution-free, and categorical variable…

This discussion of research methodologies and performance prediction in business simulations describes a study of undergraduates that considered time in the prediction of simulation performance, and explored how relationships between performance and its antecedents vary over the simulation's duration. Hypotheses tested are explained and results of…