National trends in setting admissions standards for preservice teacher education programs are reported, based on a survey of 147 member institutions of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. Grade-point requirements, use of written language and mathematics tests, enrollment trends, and other factors affecting admissions…

The degree to which the PCAT, SAT, grade point average, and other admission criteria can predict student academic performance in a school of pharmacy and on professional licensing examinations is assessed. The performance of pharmacy students on quantitative admission measures, academic courses and licensing examinations are analyzed and compared.…

Investigating student responses to a Classroom Behavior Survey, researchers were able to discriminate between high and low achievers in two courses of differing instructional design. Prediction of students' levels of achievement was based on student ratings of teacher behavior and teacher characteristics. Implications are presented for curriculum…

With reference to his own experiences as an Educational Psychology professor at the University of Hawaii College of Education, Ian Reid discusses student and faculty feelings about traditional letter grades and about credit/no credit grading, and the impact of these two systems on the instructional process. (SJL)

The Dental Aptitude Test (DAT) in Canada and the Dental Admission Test (DAT) in the United States are discussed. A history of the DAT, its composition, underlying concepts, and the problems of validation and guidelines for its uses are presented. A review of the literature is provided. (Author/MLW)

A study that investigated the performance of 129 students who transferred from two-year technical programs to the University of Michigan's Undergraduate Occupational Teacher Education Program (UOTEP) is described. To determine how successful students had been during enrollment and after graduation, transcripts were reviewed and a survey was…

Characteristics of student enrollment and financial aid, extracted from the annual survey of optometric educational institutions conducted by the Council on Optometric Education, are reported. Student characteristics such as educational background, sex, minority group, and grade point average are among the data included. (Author/JMD)

This study examined (1) the predictive validity of the Differential Aptitude Tests (DAT) relative to the engineering, mathematics, and science grades and cumulative grade point averages of high school seniors in engineering; and (2) the differential validity of the eight DAT scales in comparing high and low achievers. (Autor/BW)

Results of a study of the relationship between students' propensities to withdraw from a course and the faculty member's grading in that course show that students do use the option to withdraw from courses when grades tend to be low in order to protect their grade point averages. (JMD)

Data from this study indicate employment status and type of employment exert influence on students' grade point averages. Students working less than 15 hours per week achieve higher grades than those working over 15 hours. Among employed students, white collar employees achieve better grades than blue collar employees. (Author)

Describes a study which investigated the grade point average declines (transfer shock) experienced by students who transferred from a community college to two four-year private liberal arts colleges in Pennsylvania. Indicates that the declines observed in this study are low compared to declines observed at public universities. Contains 2 data…

Investigates the effectiveness of developmental skills courses in terms of grade point average, credits earned, retention, goal attainment and degree earned. Suggests that developmental skills courses had no effect on student achievement in any of the measured areas. Contains 9 data tables and 17 references. (JDI)

Twenty European American teachers-in-training estimated the grade point averages and IQs of four African American students significantly lower than those of four European American children. In another study, racial attitudes of 58 European American education majors predicted their evaluations of compositions by African American students, Results…

Examines academic success and retention of first-year students in need of developmental education at a small private university to determine which variables are predictive of academic achievement, retention, and a GPA of 2.5 or higher. Results support other studies that indicate high school performance is the best indicator of success in college.…

Describes a study to determine the effect of package courses, (i.e., linked content and skills courses) on the educational outcomes of first-year developmental students. Finds that the experimental group had a higher mean grade point average than the control group, but only for the term of the course. (24 citations) (AJL)