Abstract
The task of selecting students who are most likely to succeed in a college Developmental Studies program results in important consequences for individuals and institutions. The present study compared the accuracy of high school grade point average and Scholastic Aptitude Test scores in predicting freshman grade point average (freshman GPA) for two groups of students, Developmental Studies freshmen and regularly admitted freshmen. Analysis indicated the differences in slopes of the regression equations accounted for a small amount of criterion variance, but there was substantially greater error variance in the predictor-criterion relationship for developmental students. The predictor variables for regular students accounted for 34% of the variance in freshman GPA which was about two-and-a-half times more variance than was accounted for by the predictors for developmental students.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.