The Short-Term Predictive Validity of a Standardized Reading Test and of Scales Reflecting Six Dimensions of Academic Self- Concept Relative To Selected High School Achievement Criteria for Four Ethnic Groups

Abstract

For a total sample of 548 eleventh grade students (274 males and 274 females) in a completely integrated high school in a middle-class suburban neighborhood as well as for each of four subsamples from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds (292 Anglos, 28 Asians, 38 blacks, and 190 Latinos), intercorrelations were found among eight predictor variables (sex, a standardized reading test, and six aca demic self-concept measures) and four criterion measures (History grade, English grade, Science/Mathematics grade, and High School grade point average represented by a composite of the three course grades). Stepwise multiple regression analyses were completed for each sample with the High School grade point average serving as a dependent variable and with seven predictor variables (sex being ex cluded). Three major conclusions were reached: (1) With the pos sible exception of Asians, a standardized reading test can be ex pected to be a more valid predictor of academic success than can be an academic self-concept measure. (2) Irrespective of ethnicity two constructs reflecting (a) level of aspiration and (b) academic interest and satisfaction afford promise as valid predictors of school achieve ment. (3) An optimally weighted combination of a cognitive mea sure (a reading test) and one or more affective measures portraying