The Comparative Validity of the California State University and Colleges English Placement Test (CSUC-EPT) in the Prediction of Fall Semester Grade Point Average and English Course Grades of First-Semester Entering Freshmen

Abstract

The California State University and Colleges English Placement Test (CSUC-EPT) was designed to provide information about the performance levels in both reading and writing skills of newly admitted students (mostly freshmen) to any one of the campuses of the California State University and Colleges system (beginning with the Fall 1977 semester or quarter) (Educational Testing Service, 1977a, b). For a total sample of several hundred entering freshmen at one campus who had completed the CSUC-EPT and who had elected to take the general English Composition course (English 155) during the first semester as well as for nearly equal size subsamples of males and females, the major purpose of the investigation was to determine the comparative validity of the CSUC-EPT and of other measures in the prediction of each of two specific criterion variables—1977 Fall Semester Grade Point Average (GPA) and English 155 Grades.

For the total sample as well as for subsamples of females and males, intercorrelations among 11 predictor variables and the two identified criterion measures were found, and several multiple regression analyses were carried out to ascertain which particular combinations of predictor variables were the most valid indicators of success on each criterion measure.

The evidence provided by the findings led to these conclusions: (1) high school GPA is the most valid predictor of college GPA for males and females; (2) the CSUC-EPT offers slightly greater promise than does high school GPA in predicting grades in a basic English composition course; (3) future success of females in this course can be forecast with a higher degree of validity than can that of males; and (4) among several possible composites of predictor variables an optimally weighted combination of high school GPA and performance level on the CSUC-EPT typically provides the most accurate prediction of success on either criterion measure.

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