This study contrasts the distributions of indices of academic abilities and achievements of entering freshmen classes and of classes that were intact at the end of the first year of college over an eight-year period. The data reported are based on two groups of students, one comprised of all students who completed the American College Test (ACT) Assessment Program and subsequently enrolled in college, and the other group comprised of all students in the first group completing their first year of college. Data collected show a decline in ACT test scores, an increase in the high school grades of college entrants, and the stability of test scores and increases in college grades of freshmen completing their first year of college. (Author)