The Validity of Traditional Cognitive Measures and of Scales of the Study Attitudes and Methods Survey in the Prediction of the Academic Success of Educational Opportunity Program Students

Abstract

For a sample of approximately 100 Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) university students who had been admitted to a special summer preparedness program at a major metropolitan campus in the California State University College system, validity coefficients of traditional cognitive measures and of the scales of the Study Attitudes and Methods Survey (SAMS) were calculated with respect to each of three criterion measures of academic success. The most valid predictor was the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills, (Reading Vocabulary) measure, although high school grade point average and college entrance examination scores yielded statistically significant validity coefficients. In two of three stepwise multiple regression analyses, the SAMS—Academic Drive-Conformity and SAMS— Alienation scales provided the second and third greatest proportions of statistically reliable variance to the prediction of the academic criterion measure in question.