@prefix vivo: . @prefix edm: . @prefix ns0: . @prefix dcterms: . @prefix skos: . vivo:departmentOrSchool "Education, Faculty of"@en, "Educational Studies (EDST), Department of"@en ; edm:dataProvider "DSpace"@en ; ns0:degreeCampus "UBCV"@en ; dcterms:creator "Harper, Jane Kathryn"@en ; dcterms:issued "2010-02-26T01:18:22Z"@en, "1978"@en ; vivo:relatedDegree "Master of Arts - MA"@en ; ns0:degreeGrantor "University of British Columbia"@en ; dcterms:description "This study investigated the relationship of academic achievement and curricula in Grades 11 and 12 in high school, and other factors, to subsequent achievement at a community college. British Columbia high school graduation requirements were changed in September 1972 which resulted in the removal of compulsory province-wide Grade 12 examinations, the introduction of more liberal course selection requirements and the promotion of locally developed curricula. The sample of 643 subjects included students who attended all or part of Grades 11 and 12 at New Westminster secondary schools (NWSS) and subsequently completed course work at Douglas College between September 1970 and July 1977. T-tests, product-moment correlations and multiple regression analyses were the statistical procedures used. The first major hypothesis explored the correlation between high school and college grade point averages (GPA's). This relationship was studied by grouping the data according to college entry age, number of years between high school and college, high school leaving date (pre-or post-September 1972) or completion of high school graduation requirements. The other major hypothesis involved the correlation between high school and college achievement in similar clusters, of courses/ subject areas. Courses were allotted to one of ten clusters—Art, Business, Early Childhood Education, English/Communications, Fashion and Interior Design, Humanities, Industrial Arts, Recreation, Science or Social Science. Changes in college cluster GPA's were investigated according to the number of courses a student had taken in corresponding high school clusters. The variables sex, college entry age and college enrolment status were considered for all hypotheses tested. Women did better than men at college, an advantage that diminished with increased college entry age. Part-time students did not do as well as their full-time counterparts, especially if they were young and/or male. Further study was recommended on part-time college students. There was a positive correlation between GPA's in high school and college. A \"maturity factor\" played a significant role in the academic achievement of college students. Mature entries (25+) and those who took at least two years \"off\" after high school earned higher grades. Lack of a high school diploma made little difference to the college success of mature entries, which was not the case for young entries. These results gave support to the college \"open door\" admissions policy. Further research was recommended on the components of the \"maturity\" (entry age) variable and the relationship between it and academic success. Students who attended high school before the 1972 changes did slightly better in college, despite the fact that their high school GPA's had been lower. The findings were attributed to variables in their high school background such as required basic preparation in \"essential\" curricula (English, mathematics, sciences, social sciences and second languages) and/or a more \"rigorous\" high school experience with higher academic standards. The data pointed to a recent decline in academic standards at New Westminster Secondary School. Correlations between high school and college GPA's were slightly higher for post-September 1972 high school leavers. High school GPA's were more reliable as predictors of college achievement for the post-1972 group. This was attributed to the fact that this group of students had been able to select their high school courses mainly by interest, ability and need instead of by the pre-1972 restrictions and require- merits. Presumably college programs were selected on the former bases. The variables used in the regression equations accounted for only 17 to 24% of the variance of grades in the college clusters of Business, English/Communications, Humanities, Recreation, Science and Social Science. Regressions were not run on four clusters due to insufficient numbers of subjects. Academic achievement in college clusters was not related to any great extent to either the grades received or the number of courses taken in corresponding high school clusters, for either pre-or post-1972 high school leavers. The suggestion that college entrance examinations be introduced to ensure minimal entry standards of preparation in \"essential\" curricula was not supported. Success in all college clusters tested, except English, was more closely related to high school GPA than it was to experience and/or grades in corresponding high school clusters. This implied that most patterns of high school courses were equally good college preparation, as long as certain thresholds of ability and past performance had been achieved."@en ; edm:aggregatedCHO "https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/21024?expand=metadata"@en ; skos:note "THE RELATION OF HIGH SCHOOL ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND CURRICULA AND OTHER FACTORS TO ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AT A COMMUNITY COLLEGE by JANE KATHRYN HARPER B . H . E . , U n i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia, 1969 B . E d . , U n i v e r s i t y o f Toronto , 1970 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN THE REQUIREMENTS MASTER PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF FOR THE DEGREE OF OF ARTS i n THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of Higher Education) We accept t h i s t h e s i s as conforming In the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA October, 1978 © Jane Kathryn Harper, 1978 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Brit ish Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of Higher Education The University of Brit ish Columbia 2075 Wesbrook Place Vancouver, Canada V6T 1W5 Date Ootober 5. 1978 i i ABSTRACT This study i n v e s t i g a t e d the r e l a t i o n s h i p of academic achievement and c u r r i c u l a i n Grades 11 and 12 i n high s c h o o l , and other f a c t o r s , to subsequent achievement at a community c o l l e g e . B r i t i s h Columbia high school graduation requirements were changed i n September 1972 which r e s u l t e d i n the removal of compulsory p r o v i n c e -wide Grade 12 examinations, the i n t r o d u c t i o n of more l i b e r a l course s e l e c t i o n requirements and the promotion of l o c a l l y developed c u r r i c u l a . The sample of 643 subjects included students who attended a l l or part o f Grades 11 and 12 at New Westminster secondary schools (NWSS) and subsequently completed course work at Douglas College between September 1970 and J u l y 1977. T - t e s t s , product-moment c o r r e l a t i o n s and m u l t i p l e regression analyses were the s t a t i s t i c a l procedures used. The f i r s t major hypothesis explored the c o r r e l a t i o n between high school and c o l l e g e grade point averages ( G P A ' s ) . This r e l a t i o n s h i p was s tudied by grouping the data according to c o l l e g e entry age, number of years between high school and c o l l e g e , high school l e a v i n g date (pre -or post-September 1972) or completion of high school graduation r e -quirements. The other major hypothesis involved the c o r r e l a t i o n be-tween high school and co l lege achievement in s i m i l a r c l u s t e r s , of courses/ subject areas . Courses were a l l o t e d to one of ten c l u s t e r s — A r t , Business , E a r l y Childhood Educat ion, English/Communications, Fashion and I n t e r i o r Design, Humanities, I n d u s t r i a l A r t s , Recreat ion , Science or Socia l Sc ience . Changes i n c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA's were i n v e s t i g a t e d according to the number of courses a student had taken i n corresponding high school c l u s t e r s . The v a r i a b l e s sex, c o l l e g e entry age and c o l l e g e enrolment status were considered f o r a l l hypotheses t e s t e d . i i i Women d i d bet te r than men at c o l l e g e , an advantage that diminished with increased c o l l e g e entry age. Part - t ime students d i d not do as well as t h e i r f u l l - t i m e counterparts , e s p e c i a l l y i f they were young and/or male. Further study was recommended on part - t ime c o l l e g e s tudents . There was a p o s i t i v e c o r r e l a t i o n between GPA's i n high school and c o l l e g e . A \"maturity f a c t o r \" played a s i g n i f i c a n t r o l e i n the academic achievement of c o l l e g e s tudents . Mature e n t r i e s (25+) and those who took at l e a s t two years \" o f f \" a f t e r high school earned higher grades. Lack of a high school diploma made l i t t l e d i f f e r e n c e to the c o l l e g e success o f mature e n t r i e s , which was not the case f o r young e n t r i e s . These r e s u l t s gave support to the c o l l e g e \"open door\" admissions p o l i -cy . Further research was recommended on the components of the \"maturi ty\" (entry age) v a r i a b l e and the r e l a t i o n s h i p between i t and academic success . Students who attended high school before the 1972 changes d i d s l i g h t l y be t te r i n c o l l e g e , despite the f a c t that t h e i r high school GPA's had been lower. The f i n d i n g s were a t t r i b u t e d to v a r i a b l e s i n t h e i r high school background such as required basic preparat ion i n \" e s s e n t i a l \" c u r r i c u l a ( E n g l i s h , mathematics, s c i e n c e s , s o c i a l sciences and second languages) and/or a more \" r i g o r o u s \" high school experience with higher academic standards. The data pointed to a recent d e c l i n e in academic standards at New Westminster Secondary S c h o o l . C o r r e l a t i o n s between high school and c o l l e g e GPA's were s l i g h t l y higher f o r post-September 1972 high school l e a v e r s . High school GPA's were more r e l i a b l e as predic tors of c o l l e g e achievement f o r the post -1972 group. This was a t t r i b u t e d to the f a c t that t h i s group of students had been able to s e l e c t t h e i r high school courses mainly by i n t e r e s t , a b i l i t y and need instead of by the pre-1972 r e s t r i c t i o n s and r e q u i r e -i v merits. Presumably c o l l e g e programs were se lec ted on the former bases. The v a r i a b l e s used i n the regression equations accounted f o r only 17 to 24% o f the variance o f grades i n the c o l l e g e c l u s t e r s o f Business , English/Communications, Humanities, Recreat ion, Science and Soc ia l Sc ience . Regressions were not run on four c l u s t e r s due to i n s u f f i c i e n t numbers of s u b j e c t s . Academic achievement i n c o l l e g e c l u s t e r s was not re la ted to any great extent to e i t h e r the grades received o r the number of courses taken in corresponding high school c l u s t e r s , f o r e i t h e r p r e -or post-1972 high school l e a v e r s . The suggestion that c o l l e g e entrance examinations be introduced to ensure minimal entry standards of prepa-r a t i o n in \" e s s e n t i a l \" c u r r i c u l a was not supported. Success i n a l l c o l l e g e c l u s t e r s t e s t e d , except E n g l i s h , was more c l o s e l y r e l a t e d to high school GPA than i t was to experience and/or grades i n corresponding high school c l u s t e r s . This implied that most patterns of high school courses were e q u a l l y good c o l l e g e p r e p a r a t i o n , as long as c e r t a i n thresholds of a b i l i t y and past performance had been achieved. V TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT i i TABLE OF CONTENTS .v LIST OF TABLES v i i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ix I INTRODUCTION The Problem 1 Purposes of the Study 1 Hypotheses A. General Hypothesis 12 B. S p e c i f i c Hypotheses and Sub-Hypotheses 12 D e f i n i t i o n of Terms 13 L i m i t a t i o n s of the Study 15 Summary 17 II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE High School Academic Achievement and Its Rela t ionship to Academic Achievement i n College 18 High School Courses and Academic Achievement and T h e i r Rela t ionship to Academic Achievement i n College 26 Sex and Age and T h e i r Rela t ionship to Academic Achievement in College 30 Years Between High School and College 31 Summary 31 III METHODOLOGY D e s c r i p t i o n of the Sample 32 Design of the Study 32 Procedures f o r Data C o l l e c t i o n 33 Procedures f o r Data Analyses 35 Assumptions. Regarding Data and Data Analyses 39 L i m i t a t i o n s Regarding Data and Data Analyses 39 Summary 40 IV ANALYSIS OF DATA Sex, Entry Age and Enrolment Status 41 Hypothesis I 44 Hypothesis II 50 Summary 55 (Table of Contents continued on next page) vi TABLE OF CONTENTS. Continued. Page V ANALYSIS OF OTHER FINDINGS C o r r e l a t i o n o f Col lege GPA with High School GPA, by High School Leaving Date 57 Regression A n a l y s i s Including High School GPA as a P r e d i c t o r 59 VI DISCUSSION OF DATA Sex, Entry Age and Enrolment Status 64 Hypothesis I 65 Hypothesis II 72 Summary 76 VII CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR ADDITIONAL RESEARCH Conclusions 79 Implicat ions 83 L i m i t a t i o n s to the Conclusions 86 Suggestions f o r Further Research 88 Summary 92 BIBLIOGRAPHY 96 APPENDICES I Pre-September 1972 B . C . High School Graduation Requirements 102 II Post-September 1972 B . C . High School Graduation Requirements 108 III A L i s t i n g of NWSS and DC Courses by Clusters 109 IV NWSS and DC Grading Systems 111 V M u l t i p l e Regression A n a l y s i s 112 VI Summary Table of I n t e r c o r r e l a t i o n Matrices of P r e d i c t o r and C r i t e r i o n V a r i a b l e s , by C l u s t e r s , Excluding DichotOmous Var iables 114 VII S i g n i f i c a n t M u l t i p l e Predic t ions with DC C l u s t e r GPA's as C r i t e r i o n 116 VIII Summary Table of Secondary S t a t i s t i c s of S i g n i f i c a n t M u l t i p l e Regressions with DC C l u s t e r GPA's as C r i t e r i o n 117 IX S i g n i f i c a n t M u l t i p l e Predic t ions with DC C l u s t e r GPA's as C r i t e r i o n , Including High School GPA as a P r e d i c t o r 119 X Summary Table of Secondary S t a t i s t i c s of S i g n i f i c a n t M u l t i p l e Regressions with DC C l u s t e r GPA's as C r i t e r i o n , Including High School GPA as a P r e d i c t o r 120 vi i LIST OF TABLES Page Table I. Mean High School G P A ' s , S . D . ' s and \"t\" S t a t i s t i c f o r Pre- and Post-September 1972 High School Leavers . 11 Table I I . NWSS Students Attending Douglas College Between September 1970 and June 1977, by Sex, Entry Age and Primary Enrolment S t a t u s . 36 Table I ' l l . Mean DC G P A ' s , S . D . ' s and \" t \" S t a t i s t i c s f o r Students , by Sex and Entry Age. 42 Table IV. Mean DC G P A ' s , S . D . ' s and \"t\" S t a t i s t i c s f o r Students , by Enrolment S ta tus , Sex and Entry Age. 43 Table V. Mean DC G P A ' s , S . D . ' s and \" t\" S t a t i s t i c f o r Enter ing Young and Mature A d u l t Students , by Enrolment S ta tus . 44 Table V I . Mean DC GPA's , S . D . ' s and \" t \" S t a t i s t i c f o r Students Who Entered College Within Two Years of Leaving High School and Students Who Waited f o r More Than Two Years , Without Attending Another Post-Secondary Educational I n s t i t u t i o n i n the Meantime. 45 Table V I I . Mean DC GPA's , S . D . ' s and \" t\" S t a t i s t i c s f o r Pre- and Post-September 1972 High School Leavers , by Entry Age. 47 Table V I I I . Mean DC G P A ' s , S . D . ' s and \" t\" S t a t i s t i c s f o r High School Graduates and Non-Graduates, by High School Leaving Date and Col lege Entry Age. 48 Table IX. C o r r e l a t i o n C o e f f i c i e n t s of High School GPA with F i r s t Semester DC GPA and Cumulative DC GPA. 49 Table X. Product-Moment C o r r e l a t i o n C o e f f i c i e n t s of High School C l u s t e r GPA's with DC C l u s t e r GPA's . 51 Table XI . S i g n i f i c a n t M u l t i p l e Predic t ions with DC C l u s t e r GPA's as C r i t e r i o n . 53 ( L i s t o f Tables continued on next page) vi i i LIST OF TABLES. Continued. Page Table XII . Product-Moment C o r r e l a t i o n C o e f f i c i e n t s of High School GPA with F i r s t Semester DC GPA and Cumulative DC GPA, f o r Pre- and Post-September 1972 High School Leavers , by Enrolment S ta tus , Entry Age and Sex. 58 Table XII I . Product-Moment C o r r e l a t i o n C o e f f i c i e n t s o f DC C l u s t e r GPA's with High School GPA and High School C l u s t e r GPA. 60 Table XIV. S i g n i f i c a n t M u l t i p l e Predic t ions with DC C l u s t e r GPA's as C r i t e r i o n , Including High School GPA as a P r e d i c t o r . 61 i x ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wish to acknowledge the l i m i t l e s s ass is tance given by three gentlemen associated with Douglas C o l l e g e : Je r ry D e l l a M a t t i a , the D i r e c t o r of Admissions and Records, Ken Bat tersby , the A s s i s t a n t D i r e c t o r of Admissions and Marsh P r i c e , Systems Analyst Consul tant . For his c o n t r i b u t i o n s to the development of t h i s t h e s i s and f o r his consis tent encouragement, I g r a t e f u l l y acknowledge Dr. John D. Dennison. Special a p p r e c i a t i o n and thanks i s extended to my husband, Andy, f o r the way he has sustained me i n t h i s e f f o r t through his pat ience , support and c o n s i d e r a t i o n . 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The Problem This study i s intended to i n v e s t i g a t e the r e l a t i o n s h i p of aca-demic achievement and c u r r i c u l a of Grade 11 and 12 students at New Westminster high s c h o o l s , and other f a c t o r s , to subsequent achieve-ment at Douglas C o l l e g e . Purposes of the Study The researcher ' s i n i t i a l i n t e r e s t i n the stated problem was heightened by the current concern over academic standards i n B r i t i s h Columbia ( B . C . ) high s c h o o l s . a n d , r e l a t e d to t h i s , the e f f e c t o f high school academic and course background on success i n community c o l l e g e courses. A statement issued by the Academic Board on A p r i l 15, 1975 expressed the Board's \"concern at the apparent i n c r e a s i n g lack of uniformity i n academic standards and c u r r i c u l a i n the Province of B . C . and with an apparent decrease i n the standards of some U n i v e r s i t y programs.\"''' The Academic Board had been created to advise the Pro-v i n c i a l M i n i s t e r of Education on academic standards i n u n i v e r s i t i e s and c o l l e g e s . T h e i r statement suggested that high school academic standards had been d i v e r g i n g since September 1972 when the B . C . high school gradua-^Statement by the Academic Board on Academic Standards and C u r r i c u l a , A p r i l 15, 1975, page 1. 2 t i o n requirements changed and province-wide examinations were phased out . A comparison of o v e r a l l academic achievement of those community c o l l e g e students who l e f t high school before and a f t e r September 1972 could reveal any general trends i n academic standards r e s u l t i n g from the 1972 changes. Students whose projected graduation date was pre-September 1972 had been required to take more s t ructured high school programs than post-September 1972 potent ia l graduates. The two groups d i f f e r e d according to the f o l l o w i n g graduation requirements: 1. Pre-September 1972--General education constants (Social Studies 11, Physical and Health Education and Guidance 11, Engl ish 11 and Engl ish 12), Program Constants , Program S p e c i a l t i e s and E l e c t i v e s . Students chose to fo l low one of the \"Selected Studies Programs\": Academic and Technical Program—Arts, Sciences or Technical (Community S e r v i c e s , Commercial or Visual and Performing Arts ) S p e c i a l t y . (Appendix I) 2. Post-September 1972—General education constants and EITHER \"Selected Studies Program\" as o u t l i n e d in 1. above OR E l e c t i v e s . (Appendix II) Courses were s t i l l grouped into programs, but the groupings f o r s p e c i f i c s p e c i a l t i e s were amended to allow f o r d i f f e r e n t combinations of s t u d i e s , in essence, a \"smorgasbord of courses\" . As an expansion of the bas ic idea of programs, p r o v i s i o n was made f o r a new o r g a n i z a t i o n of courses c a l l e d \"Combined Studies Program\" which permitted groupings of 3 courses into other than the t r a d i t i o n a l pat terns . For example, a student could graduate from high school without taking a s i n g l e mathematics or science course . School D i s t r i c t s and i n d i v i d u a l high schools were encouraged to develop t h e i r own c u r r i c u l a when the graduation requirements changed. This reduction of curr iculum uniformity dis turbed the Academic Board. They asserted that there was no guarantee that l o c a l l y developed c u r r i c u l a were f o l l o w i n g the core c u r r i c u l a developed by the Depart-ment of Educat ion. Consequently, the Board s t a t e d , high school students were not n e c e s s a r i l y prepared \" i n c e r t a i n areas of the 2 t r a d i t i o n a l curr iculum of each d i s c i p l i n e . \" A comparison of p r e - and post-September 1972 graduates i n p a r t i -c u l a r subject groupings or c l u s t e r s could reveal whether or not academic success and experience i n p a r t i c u l a r c u r r i c u l a r areas i n high school were r e l a t e d to being successful in c o l l e g e courses . The Academic Board also asserted that the lack of compulsory e x t e r n a l l y set high school examinations since September 1972 had resul ted i n \"inadequate g u i d e l i n e s to maintain uniform academic 3 standards of high school g r a d u a t i o n . \" They b e l i e v e d that the wide v a r i e t y of graduating standards throughout B . C . caused high school grades, which were formally r e l i a b l e p r e d i c t o r s of academic a b i l i t y , to become l e s s v a l i d as predic tors f o r co l leges and u n i v e r s i t i e s to use. The Board proposed entrance examinations to c o l l e g e s and u n i -v e r s i t i e s as a p o s s i b l e s o l u t i o n to the problems of d i v e r g i n g high school standards and reduction of uniformity of high school c u r r i c u l a . 2 I b i d . 3 I b i d . .4 However, B . C . community c o l l e g e s are c h a r a c t e r i z e d by l i b e r a l admissions p o l i c i e s which have provided o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r many p r e v i o u s l y excluded and di vers e populations (Dennison, e t a l . ^ 1975) and L i g h t f i e l d , 1 9 7 4 ) T h i s basic ; \" r a i s o n d ' e t r e \" of the c o l l e g e s would be negated i f entrance examinations were i n s t i t u t e d . A l s o , the a d m i n i s t r a t i o n of preadmission tests can be an expensive and t ime-consuming o p e r a t i o n . At Douglas C o l l e g e , an i n d i v i d u a l i s e l i g i b l e f o r admission i f he meets one of the f o l l o w i n g c r i t e r i a : 1. he has completed B . C . secondary school graduation on any program, or the equivalent from another school system; or 2. he i s d e f i c i e n t i n not more than one course f o r B . C . high school graduat ion , or the equivalent from another school system; or 3. he i s 19 years of age or o l d e r on the f i r s t day o f the current semester; or 4. he has not been i n regular daytime attendance at school f o r at l e a s t one y e a r ; or 5. i f none of the above requirements can be met, he i s e l i g i b l e to apply f o r admission as a \" s p e c i a l \" s t u d e n t . § Students applying f o r admission to a career , technica l or voca-t i o n a l program must meet any admission requirements s p e c i f i c to that program. However, there are few p r e r e q u i s i t e s f o r in t roductory l e v e l courses at the c o l l e g e . Douglas College administered few entrance tes ts s ince i t s opening i n 1970 to F a l l 1977. Appl icants f o r the Dental A s s i s t i n g Basic Program and the Nursing Program used to wri te se lec ted tes ts from the 4 References i n the text give only author and year of p u b l i c a t i o n . Further d e t a i l s appear i n the B i b l i o g r a p h y at the end of the text . 5 Douglas College Calendar 1977-78, page 12. 5 General Apti tude Test Battery because i t was a method of measuring c e r t a i n l e v e l s of s k i l l s required i n those programs. This t e s t i n g resul ted from the high number o f appl icants f o r these programs. In conjunction with t h i s demand, l i m i t e d i n s t r u c t i o n a l space and equip-ment and the high cost of these and other career , technica l and voca-t i o n a l programs r e s u l t e d i n more s t r i n g e n t admission requirements f o r these programs than f o r entrance into other programs at Douglas C o l l e g e . The Academic Board proposed another s o l u t i o n to the problem of d iverging standards. They suggested that province-wide Grade 12 examinations i n E n g l i s h , mathematics, s c i e n c e s , s o c i a l sciences and second languages—the \" e s s e n t i a l a reas\" - -be re in t roduced . The c u r -r i c u l a and standards would be set by representat ives from a l l educa-t i o n a l sec tors . I m p l i c i t i n t h e i r suggestion was the assumption that students going on to higher education needed to be bet ter prepared i n c e r t a i n \" e s s e n t i a l \" c u r r i c u l a r areas . Community c o l l e g e s tudents , because of the c o l l e g e s ' l i b e r a l admissions p o l i c i e s , of ten have not obtained t h i s c u r r i c u l a r back-ground. There are many reasons: perhaps they d i d not complete Grade 11 and/or 12; perhaps the only high school courses they took that gave them t h i s background were the general education constants (Soc ia l Studies 11 and Engl ish 11 and 12); perhaps they f a i l e d or barely passed these s u b j e c t s ; perhaps they decided to go on to c o l l e g e during Grade 12 or years a f t e r they l e f t high school and, t h e r e f o r e , i t was too l a t e to pick up extra \" e s s e n t i a l \" courses. College students as a group tended to make the d e c i s i o n to con-tinue t h e i r education l a t e r than u n i v e r s i t y students d i d : 37% decided 6 a f t e r leaving high s c h o o l , 12% during Grade 12, 22% between Grades 8 and 11 and 12% by Grade 7 or e a r l i e r (Dennison, et a l . , 1975). Therefore , at l e a s t 49% of community c o l l e g e students d i d not consciously s e l e c t t h e i r high school program of s tudies with the intent of continuing t h e i r educat ion. A comparison of the grades received by students i n s p e c i f i c high school courses to t h e i r academic record i n c o l l e g e could reveal any r e l a t i o n s h i p s between achievement in s i m i l a r c u r r i c u l a r areas . Com-paring students who l e f t high school and then immediately s tar ted co l lege to students who waited more than two years to go to c o l l e g e may also reveal trends i n subsequent c o l l e g e achievement. Dennison, et a l . (1975) c o l l e c t e d information on B . C . community c o l l e g e students concerning who inf luenced t h e i r dec is ions regarding future educational plans . The researchers found that parents were most i n f l u e n t i a l , fol lowed by f r i e n d s and r e l a t i v e s . High school and col lege i n s t r u c t o r s and counsel lors exerted l i m i t e d i n f l u e n c e on c o l l e g e s tudents ' educational d e c i s i o n s . The i n v e s t i g a t o r s suggested that \"greater emphasis should be placed by col leges on ensuring that the f a m i l i e s and f r i e n d s o f students have access to useful material upon which dec is ions may be made.\" The l i t e r a t u r e review f o r t h i s study revealed many instances of attempts to p r e d i c t academic achievement of students enroled i n c o l -lege and u n i v e r s i t y courses . The review i n d i c a t e d that many indepen-dent var iables can be used to predic t student success , with high 6 John D. Dennison, Alex Tunner, Gordon Jones and Glen C. F o r r e s t e r , The Impact of Community C o l l e g e s : A Study of the College Concept i n B . C . , Vancouver, Canada: B . C . Research, November 1975, page 49. 7 school grade point average being the most r e l i a b l e and strongest p r e d i c t o r . Based upon the f i n d i n g s , there appeared to be ample j u s t i -f i c a t i o n f o r attempting to p r e d i c t student academic performance at Douglas C o l l e g e . The development of a r e l a t i v e l y e a s i l y r e p l i c a t e d and understood p r e d i c t i v e instrument, designed to make use of a v a i l a -ble information contained i n the high school t r a n s c r i p t s of s tudents , could be an important a i d to i n c r e a s i n g the amount of \"useful m a t e r i a l \" from which educational d e c i s i o n s can be made. This study i n v e s t i g a t e d r e l a t i o n s h i p s between academic achieve-ment i n c l u s t e r s of high school and community c o l l e g e s u b j e c t s . If s i g n i f i c a n t p o s i t i v e r e l a t i o n s h i p s were found, new Douglas Col lege (DC) students could be t o l d that previous students from t h e i r high school with t h e i r \" t rack record\" tended to acheive i n c e r t a i n ways and areas at DC. The data presented to prospective students should not be used f o r screening purposes, but rather to help them make d e c i s i o n s r e -garding courses and educational goals . A l s o , high school counsel lors could encourage students who have expressed i n t e r e s t i n going on to c o l l e g e to include c e r t a i n courses which show p o s i t i v e r e l a t i o n s h i p s with success i n c o l l e g e i n t h e i r high school program of s t u d i e s . \"The 'open door' p o l i c y of the community c o l l e g e d i c t a t e s that i t must admit nearly a l l who apply and p h i l o s o p h i c a l l y makes i t v i t a l l y concerned with i n d i v i d u a l student d i f f e r e n c e s . \" 7 Decision-makers , students i n c l u d e d , l e g i t i m a t e l y want to know more about how to increase 7 G a r y A. Rice and W i l l i a m S c o f i e l d , \"A Contrast Between the ' S u c c e s s f u l ' and 'Dropout ' Student at Yakima V a l l e y C o l l e g e , \" Olympia, Washington: Washington State Board f o r Community Col lege Educat ion , March 1969, page 24. 8 students ' chances of s u c c e s s f u l l y f i n i s h i n g t h e i r courses of s tudy. The search f o r answers may be based on the loss of t a l e n t , waste of l i m i t e d educational resources , or the v o c a t i o n a l , personal and f i n a n -c i a l setbacks that r e s u l t from students ' impeded career developments and unproductive expenditure of time and e f f o r t . The sample se lec ted f o r t h i s study was composed of students who attended a l l or part o f Grades 11 and 12 at New Westminster high schools (NWSS) and subsequently completed course work at DC. New Westminster Secondary School has been the only p u b l i c high school i n New Westminster School D i s t r i c t s ince September 1955 when Lester Pearson High School ( l a t e r renamed New Westminster Secondary School) opened, and Trapp Technical and Duke of Connaught c l o s e d . Only two DC students i n the sample had attended C a t h o l i c schools i n New Westminster; four students had attended Trapp Technical or Duke of Connqught; and the r e s t of the sample, 637 s tudents , had attended Lester Pearson. The only c o l l e g e students excluded were those who d i d not make t h e i r New Westminster high school t r a n s c r i p t a v a i l a b l e to the DC Admissions O f f i c e . The data from as many students as p o s s i b l e were used to give more power to the p r e d i c t i o n s that were made. The sample used i n the study and procedures f o r s e l e c t i n g i t helped to make the sample f a i r l y representat ive of the l o c a l New Westminster populat ion as well as the l o c a l high school p o p u l a t i o n . In Dennison's et a l . (1975) s tudy, c o l l e g e students comprised a group with socio-economic c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s which were c lose to those of the general p o p u l a t i o n , l o c a l l y and r e g i o n a l l y across Canada. The v a r i a b l e s he examined were f a t h e r ' s education and occupat ion, family 9 f i n a n c i a l status and time of d e c i s i o n to continue education beyond high s c h o o l . Dennison a lso concluded that c o l l e g e s tudents ' a b i l i t i e s and high school achievements i n d i c a t e d that they had a heterogeneous academic background as w e l l . This i n v e s t i g a t i o n covered several years of student records which helped to reduce the problem of \"stopouts\" ( i n / o u t / e t c . students) when c o l l e c t i n g the data . A short - term l o n g i t u d i n a l study such as t h i s could a lso r e s u l t i n more accurate p r e d i c t i o n s over time. Most of the research on academic and performance p r e d i c t i o n over the past 25 years has u t i l i z e d m u l t i v a r i a t e methods f o r data a n a l y s i s . These methods which employ m u l t i p l e predic tors and m u l t i p l e regress ion a n a l y s i s are e s s e n t i a l f o r productive work i n the area of p r e d i c t i v e s t u d i e s . M u l t i p l e regression a n a l y s i s was used i n t h i s study to i n v e s t i g a t e r e l a t i o n s h i p s between various combinations of the f o l l o w ^ ing predic tors and academic achievement in c o l l e g e : cumulative high school grade point average, number of courses taken and grade point averages i n c l u s t e r s of courses , sex, c o l l e g e entry age, high school graduat ion , c o l l e g e enrolment status ( p a r t - or f u l l - t i m e ) and high school l e a v i n g date (pre- or post-September 1972). Rela t ionships between numbers of courses taken i n c l u s t e r / s u b j e c t areas as well as academic achievement i n those c l u s t e r s and c o l l e g e academic achievement were i n v e s t i g a t e d . Cumulative averages mask important d i f f e r e n c e s i n grading prac t i ces and standards i n d i f f e r e n t subject areas . The lack of formalized standard approaches to the computation of averages at the high school and c o l l e g e , and the common s c a r c i t y of e f f e c t i v e review procedures f o r c o r r e c t i n g ordinary 10 computational e r r o r s , may contr ibute f u r t h e r to the u n r e l i a b i l i t y of cumulative averages. Academic grade i n f l a t i o n i s occuring i n high schools and col leges i n the United S ta tes , and i s probably occurr ing i n our educational i n s t i t u t i o n s . The mean academic high school average ( E n g l i s h , mathe-matics , s o c i a l sciences and natural sciences) i n the United States ( U . S . ) increased from 2.67 to 2.91 between 1970 and 1975 f o r students who wrote the American Col lege Test (ACT) during those years (Maxey, Wimpey, Ferguson and Hanson, 1976). The mean high school average f o r students who attended f i r s t year c o l l e g e * or u n i v e r s i t y increased from 2.65 to 2.75 over those y e a r s , although ACT scores i n the content areas on which the high school average was based had dec l ined markedly. The authors conjectured that t h i s may have been the r e s u l t of a lower-ing or r e l a x a t i o n of grading standards, a r b i t r a r y as they were, and a greater d i v e r s i t y i n the academic a b i l i t i e s of students taking the ACT assessment. Trends i n the data of the present study i n d i c a t e d that high school GPA's of NWSS students entering Douglas College were i n c r e a s i n g . Scattergram plots showed that i n 1962-63 the high school GPA ( t o t a l , not j u s t the academic courses) range of a l l NWSS students who l a t e r entered DC was from 1.10 to 2.80. By September 1970, the range had spread upwards and downwards, with the major i ty of the GPA's f a l l i n g between 1.50 and 2.50. This range was r e l a t i v e l y s table up to September 1977, showing a s l i g h t r i s e . As the number of years the c o l l e g e was in operation increased , *The word \" c o l l e g e \" , when used i n t h i s paper, re fers to a two-year community c o l l e g e . 11 there were many more NWSS students e n r o l l i n g with high school GPA's at the top end of the sca le (3.1 - 4.0) and s l i g h t l y fewer at the bottom end (0.0 - 1 .5) . Dennison et a l . (1975) suggested that co l leges have achieved higher status over the years and \" A \" and \"B\" high school students were choosing the c o l l e g e over a u n i v e r s i t y f o r the f i r s t two years of t h e i r post-secondary educat ion. I f the student popula-t i o n at DC was changing f o r t h i s reason, i t could expla in the change i n the range of high school GPA's of enter ing s tudents . Such a change could a lso account f o r the f a c t that mean high school GPA's of DC students who graduated or l e f t NWSS a f t e r September 1972 were .24 of a grade point higher than those of pre-1972 high school l e a v e r s . Table I summarizes the data . Table I. Mean High School G P A ' s , Standard Deviations and \" t \" S t a t i s t i c f o r Pre- and Post-September 1972 High School Leavers. Student C h a r a c t e r i s t i c Mean HS GPA S . D . n Test of S i g n i f i c a n c e Pre-September 1972 High School Leaver 2. .04 .029 327 t = 5.58* Post-September 1972 High School l e a v e r 2. .28 .033 316 *p<.05 12 Hypotheses A. General Hypothesis There i s a c o r r e l a t i o n between academic achievement of students in Grades 11 and 12 i n New Westminster high schools and subsequent academic achievement at Douglas C o l l e g e . B. S p e c i f i c Hypotheses and Sub-Hypotheses I. There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n between high school cumulati grade point average (HS GPA) and Douglas College cumulative grade point average (DC GPA). 1. There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e between the DC GPA's of those students who entered c o l l e g e before turning 25 years o l d and those who were at l e a s t 25 years o ld upon entry into DC. 2. There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e between the DC GPA's of those students who entered c o l l e g e w i t h i n two years of l e a v i n g high school and those students who waited f o r more than two years before at tending DC, with ne i ther group having attended another post-secondary i n s t i t u t i o n i n the meantime. 3. There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e between the DC GPA's of those students who graduated from or l e f t New Westminster high schools (NWSS) before September 1972 and those who graduated or l e f t a f t e r that date . 4. There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e between the DC GPA's of those NWSS students who completed high school graduation r e -quirements and those who d i d not graduate from high s c h o o l . 13 I. 5. There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n between HS GPA and f i r s t semester DC GPA. 6. There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n between HS GPA and DC GPA, a f t e r students attend more than one semester at DC. I I . There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n between academic achieve-ment i n s i m i l a r c l u s t e r s of courses taken at NWSS and DC. 1. There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n between academic achievement i n s i m i l a r c l u s t e r s of courses taken at DC and NWSS. 2. There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e between c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA's (CLUST GPA DC) of those students who took z e r o , one to two, three to f o u r , or f i v e or more courses i n that c l u s t e r i n high s c h o o l . D e f i n i t i o n of Terms The f o l l o w i n g terms are def ined according to t h e i r intended meaning i n t h i s i n v e s t i g a t i o n : Clusters of courses : those courses whose subject matter can be c l a s s i f i e d under one general subjec t a rea , f o r example, s o c i a l sc iences—anthropology, c r i m i n o l o g y , law, p o l i t i c a l s c i e n c e , psychology and s o c i o l o g y . The l i s t i n g of courses by c l u s t e r s and c l u s t e r l a b e l s appears i n Appendix I I I . C o l l e g e : a community or two year c o l l e g e which i s a two year post-secondary educational i n s t i t u t i o n p r o v i d i n g , on a f u l l - or p a r t -time b a s i s , a v a r i e t y of courses i n academic, career , t e c h n i c a l , vocational and u n i v e r s i t y t r a n s f e r programs. 14 Douglas College c l u s t e r grade point average (DC CLUST GPA, f o r example, DC ART GPA): the sum of the grade points earned i n a l l courses completed at Douglas College within a p a r t i c u l a r c l u s t e r , d i v i d e d by the to ta l number of c r e d i t s those courses represent , ex-c l u d i n g withdrawal and incomplete grades, d u p l i c a t e courses with a lower grade point and advanced c r e d i t . Douglas College cumulative grade point average (DC GPA or c o l l e g e GPA): the sum of the grade points earned at Douglas C o l l e g e , d i v i d e d by the t o t a l number of c r e d i t s taken, with the same exclusions at DC CLUST GPA. High school c l u s t e r grade point average (HS CLUST GPA): the sum of the grade points earned i n a l l courses taken i n Grades 11 and 12 i n high school w i t h i n a p a r t i c u l a r c l u s t e r , d i v i d e d by the number of courses taken i n the c l u s t e r , excluding dupl ica te courses with a lower grade p o i n t . High school cumulative grade point average (HS GPA or high school GPA): the sum of the grade points earned in Grades 11 and 12 i n high s c h o o l , d i v i d e d by the to ta l number of courses taken, excluding d u p l i -cate courses with a lower grade p o i n t . Appendix IV o u t l i n e s the New Westminster Secondary School and Douglas College grading systems. Mature adul t s tudent : an i n d i v i d u a l who was at l e a s t 25 years o l d upon f i r s t enrolment at Douglas C o l l e g e . New Westminster Secondary School (NWSS): t h i s name was used as a d e s c r i p t o r f o r a l l o f the high schools i n New Westminster, s ince only s ix students i n the sample had not attended New Westminster Secondary School . 15 Success: attainment i f a Douglas College GPA of 2.0 or greater . U n i v e r s i t y : a four year degree granting educational i n s t i t u t i o n ; a lso c a l l e d a four year c o l l e g e . L i m i t a t i o n s of the Study 1. Student motivation was not considered as an independent v a r i a b l e i n t h i s study. Also there was no record to show whether i n d i v i d u a l courses were se lec ted by choice or as a r e s u l t of program requirements. 2. C u r r i c u l a r demands were not taken into c o n s i d e r a t i o n , that i s , equating the degree of d i f f i c u l t y of c u r r i c u l a to each o ther . 3. The r e s u l t s of t h i s study may be general ized to students who attended high schools i n New Westminster up to December 1977 and l a t e r completed courses at DC. I t would be i n v a l i d to t r y to extrapolate from these f i n d i n g s with any confidence to other school d i s t r i c t s and provinces where teaching procedures and l e a r n i n g condi t ions may d i f f e r . 4. The concept of \"environmental press\" may a f f e c t academic performance. Such performance i s determined by the a b i l i t i e s and a t t i t u d e s a student brings to DC and a complexity of fac tors i n the c o l l e g e environment such as i n s t r u c t o r d i f f e r e n c e s , s i z e of i n s t i -t u t i o n , other students at tending and the a d m i n i s t r a t i o n . I n d i v i d u a l s are seen as having c h a r a c t e r i s t i c needs and the s t rength and r e l a t i o n -ships of these needs charac ter izes t h e i r p e r s o n a l i t i e s . The c o l l e g e environment has the p o t e n t i a l to s a t i s f y or f r u s t r a t e these needs as i t i n t e r a c t s with the student . 16 S t e r n , S t e i n and Bloom (1956) elaborated t h i s need-press concept by showing that the p r e d i c t i o n of academic performance improved as one defined the \"environmental press\" (psychological demands) i n which performance was to occur . They postulated that students with par-t i c u l a r p e r s o n a l i t y c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s performed bet ter i n some c u r r i e -u l a r areas because those areas were hospi table to p a r t i c u l a r per-s o n a l i t y types . It seems qui te c l e a r from studies on \"environmental press\" that \" d i f f e r e n t c o l l e g e environments do have demonstrable consequences on student behaviour, over and above the student c u l t u r e which i s part o of the t o t a l c o l l e g e c u l t u r e . \" Should the data reveal e i t h e r low or n o n - s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n s between high school and c o l l e g e academic achievement, then i t may be assumed that the \"environmental press\" exerted by DC on the student was p l a y i n g a r o l e i n h is academic performance. \"When the ways i n which ' p r e s s ' inf luences the student are s u f f i c i e n t l y well understood, i t may become p o s s i b l e to modify ' p r e s s ' i n such a way as to i n f l u e n c e 9 the student and his l e v e l of performance.\" ° R o b e r t C. Pace, \" Impl ica t ions of Differences i n Campus Atmosphere f o r Evaluat ion and Planning of Col lege Programs.\" In R . L . Suther land, W.H. Holtzman, E . A . K o i l e and B .K. Smith ( E d s . ) , P e r s o n a l i t y Factors on the Col lege Campus: Review of a Symposium. A u s t i n : The Hogg Foundation f o r Mental H e a l t h , 1962, page 54. g N e v i t t S a n f o r d , \"Higher Education as a F i e l d of S t u d y . \" In N e v i t t Sanford ( E d . ) , The American C o l l e g e : A Psychological and S o c i a l Interpretation of the Higher Learning . New York: John Wiley and Sons, I n c . , 1962, page 67. 17 Summary Chapter I presented the problem, purposes, hypotheses and sub-hypotheses, d e f i n i t i o n s of terms and l i m i t a t i o n s of t h i s i n v e s t i g a t i o n . Academic standards of students i n B . C . high schools were d i s -cussed i n r e l a t i o n to the o v e r a l l academic and i n d i v i d u a l c u r r i c u l a r area success of those students who l a t e r attended c o l l e g e . The changes i n the B . C . high school graduation requirements were o u t l i n e d to help expla in the Academic Board's concern over academic standards and c u r r i c u l a i n high schools and t h e i r e f f e c t on standards i n post -secondary i n s t i t u t i o n s . Community c o l l e g e admission p o l i c i e s and student c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s were descr ibed to explain how they d i f f e r from those at a u n i v e r s i t y . 18 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Innumerable s tudies on the r e l a t i o n s h i p between high school record and academic achievement i n post-secondary i n s t i t u t i o n s have been c a r r i e d out s ince 1923. The major i ty of the i n v e s t i g a t i o n s were concerned with four year c o l l e g e s and u n i v e r s i t i e s , i n s p i t e of the f a c t that community col leges have been operating i n the United States f o r 77 years and i n Canada f o r 15 y e a r s . Consequently, 65% of the background l i t e r a t u r e c i t e d i n t h i s study focused on four year co l leges and u n i v e r s i t i e s . These references were included i n the review to provide a basis f o r the comparison of c o r r e l a t i o n s between and p r e d i c t a b i l i t y of academic achievement of community c o l l e g e and u n i v e r s i t y s tudents . High School Academic Achievement and Its R e l a t i o n s h i p to Academic Achievement i n Col lege High school grade point average (GPA) p r e d i c t s academic success in c o l l e g e and u n i v e r s i t y , as shown i n t h i s sec t ion of the l i t e r a t u r e background. Perhaps there i s an underlying reason f o r the success of high school GPA as a p r e d i c t o r . Frequently i t merely reveals how c l o s e l y a s tudent ' s work habits resemble the genera l ly preferred work habits of the middle c lass academic world . Academic success in post -secondary i n s t i t u t i o n s reveals many of the same preferences , so l o g i -c a l l y high school GPA's are the best predic tors of c o l l e g e and u n i -v e r s i t y grades ( A s t i n , 1972 and Fishman, 1962 and 1964). While high school GPA i s a composite which can be computed i n a l t e r n a t i v e ways, few s tudies even mentioned how t h i s composite was 19 obtained. Those papers reviewed which included S c h o l a s t i c Apt i tude Test (SAT) and American Col lege Test (ACT) scores as independent v a r i a b l e s used only achievement i n academic courses i n high school to determine high school G P A - - E n g l i s h , mathematics, s o c i a l s tudies and natural s c i e n c e s . This researcher assumed high school GPA's i n a l l the other references were computed i n the same manner, unless otherwise s p e c i f i e d . Goldman and Sexton (1974) i n v e s t i g a t e d the v a l i d i t y of the compo-nents of high school GPA, s p e c i f i c a l l y the grades achieved i n d i f -ferent types of courses taken i n high s c h o o l . High school students received higher grades i n non-academic courses , t h e r e f o r e , i t was expected that a u n i v e r s i t y GPA predic ted from a high school GPA would be lower i f a l l high school courses taken were used to compute the high school GPA than i f only academic courses were used. Goldman and Sexton randomly sampled 475 students i n f i r s t and second year u n i v e r s i t y to tes t t h e i r hypothesis . They found that by using e i t h e r method of computing high school GPA (academic or t o t a l ) , then put t ing the GPA into regress ion equations, they could accura te ly p r e d i c t nearly i d e n t i c a l l y the u n i v e r s i t y GPA's of the students (academic high school GPA c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t (r) = .46 and t o t a l high school GPA r = .47) . They suggested that the comparable r e s u l t s using e i t h e r high school GPA could have been due to the f a c t that high school students who attend u n i v e r s i t y general ly take more academic high school courses (about 80% of a l l courses) than non-academic, t h e r e f o r e , the computation of t h e i r to ta l high school GPA's placed greater weight on academic courses . Community c o l l e g e students do not n e c e s s a r i l y take the same types 20 of courses i n high school as do u n i v e r s i t y students because almost h a l f o f the former group have not made the d e c i s i o n to go on to post-secondary education u n t i l they e i t h e r are i n Grade 12 or have l e f t high school (Dennison, et a l . 1975). Consequently, many s e l e c t t h e i r high school courses f o r reasons other than a s p i r i n g to u n i v e r s i t y or co l lege entrance. The computation of high school GPA i n t h i s study included a l l _ courses taken i n Grades 11 and 12 instead of j u s t academic courses to avoid weighting the GPA's o f those students who took a \" u n i v e r s i t y program\" i n high s c h o o l . In the f o l l o w i n g summary of the background l i t e r a t u r e , whenever c o r r e l a t i o n f igures are g i v e n , the corresponding percentage of the variance i n academic achievement accounted f o r by that v a r i a b l e was also g iven . This was done to c l e a r l y i n d i c a t e the p r e d i c t i v e strength of the v a r i a b l e s . Community College Students From a representat ive sample of American two year col leges- -27 c o l l e g e s — B a i r d (1969) se lec ted 2707 students . P r e d i c t i v e c o r r e l a -t ions were computed f o r students grouped into occupational or academic c o l l e g e c u r r i c u l a . He found that the best s i n g l e p r e d i c t o r o f c o l l e g e GPA was high school GPA (r = .50/25% f o r men and r = .59/35% f o r women). For men, grades i n occupational c u r r i c u l a were predic ted about as well as or bet ter than the grades i n academic c u r r i c u l a . The present research analyzed the r e l a t i o n s h i p between high school GPA and high school c l u s t e r GPA's (HS CLUST GPA's) and corresponding c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA's (DC CLUST G P A ' s ) . T h e r e f o r e , a l l c u r r i c u l a r areas- -academic , v o c a t i o n a l , career , t echnica l - -were considered to 21 determine i f p r e d i c t i o n s s i m i l a r to B a i r d ' s could be made. The f i n d i n g s of F e l d s t e i n ' s (1974) study of the academic records of some 32,000 students e n r o l l e d i n f i v e \"open door\" C a l i f o r n i a community col leges revealed that there was no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r -ence between high school graduates and non-graduates regarding c o l l e g e GPA's achieved. The mean GPA f o r the former group was 2.51 and, of the 2200 students in the l a t t e r group, 2.56. F e l d s t e i n stated that d i f f e r e n c e s i n GPA's which are l e s s than .20 are c o n s i -dered to be i n s i g n i f i c a n t by educators . He found that GPA increased with age and suggested that t h i s was caused by some maturation f a c t o r . F e l d s t e i n conjectured that o lder students consc iously decided to return to c o l l e g e and were less inf luenced by peer or parental expectat ions . The conclusion he came to was that few, i f any, high school courses were a p r e r e q u i s i t e f o r success in c o l l e g e . The present i n v e s t i g a t i o n a lso compared the c o l l e g e GPA's of high school graduates and non-graduates to determine i f s i g n i f i c a n t d i f -ferences e x i s t e d . B o u t e l l e (1975) used m u l t i p l e regression a n a l y s i s to determine how much variance i n academic success in four f i r s t semester business courses was accounted f o r by Grade 12 marks and tes t scores on the F l o r i d a Twelfth Grade T e s t . Both v a r i a b l e s predicted 40% (R = .20) of the variance . Grade 12 grades of the students who had graduated from eleven d i f f e r e n t high schools were the best p r e d i c t o r . B o u t e l l e developed simple p r e d i c t i o n tables f o r use i n student advisement r e -garding business courses . The r e s u l t s of the present study were a lso used to develop p r e d i c t i o n equations f o r e i g h t o f the ten c l u s t e r s of courses . By comparing academic achievement i n the c l u s t e r s i n high 22 school and c o l l e g e , t h i s research a lso i n d i c a t e d the strength of any r e l a t i o n s h i p s found. Community College and U n i v e r s i t y Students Research conducted i n 13 community co l leges and 19 four year col leges with data from 5695 freshmen concluded that high school GPA was the best p r e d i c t o r o f a l l measures o f academic accomplishment in . the freshman y e a r - - r = .50 f o r men/.55 for women (Richards and L u t z , 1967). A s t i n (1975) undertook a study of great magnitude i n 1972 when he followed up on 101,000 students he had randomly se lec ted i n 1968 from a national sample of 358 two and four year c o l l e g e s and u n i -v e r s i t i e s . He se lec ted only those students who were e n r o l l i n g f o r the f i r s t time and who were a s p i r i n g to a baccalaureate degree. Forty-one per cent of his followup quest ionnaires were returned and he weighted his data to c o r r e c t the r e s u l t i n g non-response b i a s . A s t i n found that high school grades were the most c o n s i s t e n t l y ac -curate p r e d i c t o r of a t t r i t i o n and that the chances of a t t r i t i o n increased c o n s i s t e n t l y as high school grades decreased. The present s tudy, by i n v e s t i g a t i n g the r e l a t i o n s h i p between a s tudent ' s high school and c o l l e g e academic r e c o r d , determined i f high school GPA . was a c o n s i s t e n t l y accurate p r e d i c t o r of success , instead of a t t r i t i o n . N i c o l s (1966) took a sample of 2000 students at tending 246 C O I T leges drawn from A s t i n ' s study discussed above. For p r e d i c t i n g post-secondary grades, high school grades were the best v a r i a b l e s , with an average c o r r e l a t i o n of .33 (11%). The present i n v e s t i g a t i o n had a s m a l l e r , non-randomly se lec ted sample on which p r e d i c t i v e 23 equations were computed to determine the best p r e d i c t o r s o f c o l l e g e academic achievement. U n i v e r s i t y Students In t h e i r four year long study of 6660 high apt i tude s t u d e n t s -National Meri t f i n a l i s t s — H o l l a n d and A s t i n (1962) determined that past achievement i n high school was the best p r e d i c t o r (r = .52/27%) of academic success i n u n i v e r s i t y . Another study of National Meri t Scholars i n v e s t i g a t e d the p r e d i c t i o n of academic and e x t r a c u r r i c u l a r achievements during the f i r s t year of u n i v e r s i t y from the assessment of several fac tors i n student backgrounds. Questionnaires were r e -turned by 1033 out of 10,000 students and a f t e r s t a t i s t i c a l analyses of a l l p r e d i c t o r s , high school GPA proved to be the best i n d i c a t o r (r = .33/11%) of academic success during the freshman year (Nicols and H o l l a n d , 1963). High school GPA was also the v a r i a b l e showing the highest and most c o n s i s t e n t c o r r e l a t i o n of 31 v a r i a b l e s with f i r s t semester GPA of 630 nursing students over three campuses and three y e a r s . High school averages i n mathematics, science and Engl ish general ly c o r -r e l a t e d only s l i g h t l y lower with f i r s t semester GPA than d i d high school GPA (corresponding r ' s = .31, .31 and .27) (Meier , M i l l e r and W i l k , 1975). The present study compared GPA's and number of courses i n c l u s t e r s of subjects instead of i n d i v i d u a l s u b j e c t s . F i r s t semes-ter and cumulative c o l l e g e GPA's were both used f o r one data a n a l y s i s . A s t i n ' s (1971) data based on a national representat ive sample of 36,581 students who entered 180 d i f f e r e n t u n i v e r s i t i e s in the f a l l of 1966, found high school GPA to be the best s i n g l e i n d i c a t o r of f i r s t 24 year u n i v e r s i t y academic performance ( r = .50/25% f o r men and r = .51/26% f o r women). Fishman and Pasanella (1960) had a lso c a l -culated a mean p o s i t i v e c o r r e l a t i o n of r = .50 between high school grades and grades obtained i n the freshman y e a r . T h e i r data was compiled by reviewing 263 u n i v e r s i t y admission s tudies which had been conducted over a ten year p e r i o d . Lunneborg (1975) s tudied long term c r i t e r i a i n u n i v e r s i t y per -formance (graduation i n four y e a r s , cumulative GPA, c r e d i t s earned and graduating major) i n r e l a t i o n to a comprehensive p r e - u n i v e r s i t y battery of tes ts administered i n Grade 11. She se lec ted a sample of 1633 senior u n i v e r s i t y students and found that t h e i r high school GPA's c o r r e l a t e d as h i g h l y with cumulative u n i v e r s i t y GPA as with freshman GPA (r = .51/26%). Lunneborg used stepwise regression equations to come to her conclusions which agree with A s t i n ' s 1971 study where the average c o r r e l a t i o n was .505. She a lso c l u s t e r e d subjects under the f o l l o w i n g headings: E n g l i s h , mathematics, natural s c i e n c e s , s o c i a l s c i e n c e s , f o r e i g n languages and e l e c t i v e s . C l u s t e r GPA's c o r r e l a t e d at .50/16% or higher with u n i v e r s i t y GPA, except f o r the e l e c t i v e s c l u s t e r GPA (r = .28/8%). The present research combined mathematics and natural sciences i n t o the Science c l u s t e r and f o r e i g n languages was part of the Humanities c l u s t e r . There i s no E l e c t i v e s c l u s t e r , as such, i n t h i s study because courses are c l u s t e r e d according to subject areas . High school c l u s t e r GPA's were c o r r e l a t e d with c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA's but not with cumulative c o l l e g e GPA. Numerous other s tudies concluded that academic record i n high school was a r e l i a b l e instrument f o r p r e d i c t i n g u n i v e r s i t y grades. 25 ( G a l l a n t , 1966, Judy, 1975, L a v i n , 1965, Lunneborg, 1968 and Tinto and C u l l e n , 1973). Academic high school GPA c o r r e l a t e d .35/12% with f i r s t year u n i v e r s i t y GPA and .41/17% with second year GPA i n an i n v e s t i g a t i o n by Richards , Holland and Lutz (1967). Academic high school GPA was a lso the best s i n g l e p r e d i c t o r o f u n i v e r s i t y GPA with a p o s i t i v e c o r r e l a t i o n of at l e a s t r = .5/25% u s u a l l y reported (Brown and Wolins , 1965). Sedlacek and Brooks (1972) found a very low c o r r e l a t i o n i n t h e i r research conducted on 95 freshman, 90 of whom were colored students . Thei r sample had been s y s t e m a t i c a l l y chosen to ensure few or no r e l a t i o n s h i p s between t r a d i t i o n a l predic tors of academic success and u n i v e r s i t y GPA. The n o n - s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n between high school and u n i v e r s i t y GPA was .08/1%. In t h e i r study of 475 randomly se lec ted students in freshman and j u n i o r c lasses i n f i v e col leges on the U n i v e r s i t y of C a l i f o r n i a campus, Goldman and Sexton (1974) computed two high school GPA's by averaging marks from Grades 9 through 12. The academic high school GPA was p o s i t i v e l y c o r r e l a t e d (r = .46/21%) with u n i v e r s i t y GPA. In general , the non-academic high school GPA ( a l l other high school courses excluding physical educat ion , d r i v e r educat ion , health and ROTC) was p o s i t i v e l y c o r r e l a t e d with u n i v e r s i t y GPA (r = .47/22%). This Douglas College study used a non-academic high school GPA which included physical education since i t i s a course required f o r high school graduation. As was stated e a r l i e r i n t h i s r e p o r t , c o l l e g e students may take a much greater percentage of non-academic courses i n high school than u n i v e r s i t y s tudents , t h e r e f o r e , an academic high school GPA would not be t r u l y representat ive of the to ta l high school GPA's of many c o l l e g e s tudents . 26 High School Courses and Academic Achievement and T h e i r Rela t ionship to Academic Achievement i n College This por t ion of the background of the l i t e r a t u r e concentrates on academic achievement and number of courses taken in s p e c i f i c subject areas . Community College Students In a study of the student populat ion at an Ontario Col lege of A p p l i e d Arts and Technology between 1967 and 1969, K e l l y (1970) found that success i n the two year programs was s i g n i f i c a n t l y r e l a t e d to a s tudent 's sex and high school program, the recommendation of his high s c h o o l , his Grade 13 papers passed and his Grade 12 academic average. The present i n v e s t i g a t i o n a lso considered the v a r i a b l e s of sex and high school program, but grouped the l a t t e r into subject area c l u s t e r s , a s well as consider ing cumulative high school GPA. Lunneborg and Lunneborg (1969) determined that grades received i n high school Engl ish (r ranging from .20 to .47) and e l e c t i v e s (r ranging from .15 to .25) were the most c o n s i s t e n t p r e d i c t o r s o f the GPA's o f 2890 vocational and technical students at s i x community c o l l e g e s . The i n v e s t i g a t o r s concluded that the high school record was an e s s e n t i a l a i d i n the community c o l l e g e c o u n s e l l i n g of prospect ive vocational and technical students because the behaviours that were get t ing good grades i n high school vocational and technical programs were a lso get t ing good grades i n s i m i l a r co l lege programs. The present research, in a d d i t i o n , compared the academic achievement i n high school and c o l l e g e of any student who took courses i n the same subject area i n both i n s t i t u t i o n s . 27 A f t e r completing a research projec t which assessed the v a l i d i t y of the s e l e c t i o n c r i t e r i a of 91 students i n four A l l i e d Health Programs at a c o l l e g e , B i s t r e i c h (1977) found only two s i g n i f i c a n t (.05 l e v e l ) p r e d i c t o r s : high school grades i n natural science and Engl ish courses predic ted graduation from the Medical Laboratory Technology Program. B i s t r i e c h ' s procedures f o r data a n a l y s i s included m u l t i p l e regression a n a l y s i s , stepwise c o r r e l a t i o n s , p r e d i c t o r equations and F - t e s t s , which were s i m i l a r to the procedures used i n the present study. He used grades i n s i n g l e courses , whereas the present study used grade point averages of c l u s t e r s o f courses . In order to reduce the 35-40% d r o p o u t / f a i l u r e rate i n chemistry c lasses at the Perkinston campus of M i s s i s s i p p i Gulf Coast Ju n i o r C o l l e g e , Mann (1976) sought p r e d i c t o r s which would provide e a r l y i d e n t i f i c a t i o n of students i n need of spec ia l or a d d i t i o n a l h e l p . Academic achievement data c o l l e c t e d over two years were subjected to regression a n a l y s i s . Data i n c l u d e d , among other v a r i a b l e s , sex and previous experience in high school chemistry . The r e s u l t s revealed that sex had almost no value i n p r e d i c t i n g mid-term grades. Students who had taken a high school chemistry course achieved higher c o l l e g e chemistry mid-term grades than those who had not , although the p r e d i c t i v e value of t h i s v a r i a b l e was low (r = .33/10%). The present study also determined i f previous experience in high school courses and sex contr ibuted to. d i f f e r e n c e s i n grades i n s i m i l a r courses i n c o l l e g e . U n i v e r s i t y and Four Year College Students M a l l i n s o n ' s (1969) data i n d i c a t e d that achievement i n u n i v e r s i t y 28 science was higher f o r students who took a large number of science courses i n high s c h o o l . Conversely , Sexton and Goldman (1974) con-cluded that although the s e l e c t i o n of a u n i v e r s i t y f i e l d was s i g n i f -i c a n t l y r e l a t e d to the number of high school courses i n s p e c i f i c areas, performance d i f f e r e n c e s were r e l a t e d to high school grades i n s p e c i f i c areas , not to the : number of courses . The present study analyzed the independent v a r i a b l e s academic achievement and number of high school courses ( i n each c l u s t e r ) to determine e x i s t i n g r e - • l a t i o n s h i p s . Grades in high school Engl ish and science were the best i n d i c a -tors o f u n i v e r s i t y mathematics success i n a study completed by Ashmore (1946). Stepwise m u l t i p l e l i n e a r regression was performed by Troutman (1977) on data on 123 f i r s t semester freshmen. Four v a r i a b l e s - - S A T tes t scores i n math, high school rank, IQ scores and high school math grades—when used i n the f u l l model, explained 37% (R = .61, p = <.01) of the v a r i a t i o n of the freshman math grade. Physical s c i e n c e , language, music, h i s t o r y and s o c i a l science experience i n high school had some bearing on success i n u n i v e r s i t y in H a r r i s ' (1940) research . The highest c o r r e l a t i o n s were h i s t o r y (r = .67/45%) and s o c i a l sciences (r = .56/31%). In a study of 495 freshmen in u n i v e r s i t y between 1943 and 1947, Wil l iams (1950) found c o r r e l a t i o n s of .77 (59%) between high school and f i r s t year u n i -v e r s i t y biology marks, but low p o s i t i v e c o r r e l a t i o n s f o r chemistry , physics or Engl ish (r = .33/11%). The c o r r e l a t i o n s were general ly higher between s o c i a l science marks, perhaps due to the wider v a r i e t y of subject matter and approach, Will iams suggested. In another i n v e s t i g a t i o n , the best p r e d i c t o r of academic 29 achievement i n u n i v e r s i t y was s i m i l a r achievement i n high s c h o o l - -median r = .38 (Richards , Holland and L u t z , 1967) C o r r e l a t i o n s be-tween achievement tests i n high school subjects and f i r s t / s e c o n d year achievement i n corresponding subjects were: l i t e r a t u r e (r = .43 (19%)/.46 (21%)), ar ts ( r = .41 (17%)/.42 (18%)) and science (r = .27 (7%)/.32(10%)). Studies at the Purdue School o f A g r i c u l t u r e i n d i c a t e d that students who completed high school vocational a g r i c u l t u r e were more l i k e l y to complete requirements f o r a degree i n a g r i c u l t u r e than those not having vocational a g r i c u l t u r e (Hamilton and Goecker, 1974). Five s tudies conducted between 1931 and 1961 concluded that the number or pattern of subjects taken in high school d i d not a f f e c t success i n u n i v e r s i t y . Douglass (1931) concluded that u n i v e r s i t y success could not be predic ted from the number of c r e d i t s completed in s p e c i f i c subject areas . The c o r r e l a t i o n s he computed were near zero , except f o r languages (r = .17/3%). Byrns and Henmon (1935) determined that success i n u n i v e r s i t y was not enhanced by high school experience i n f o r e i g n languages or mathematics. A median c o r r e l a t i o n of .40 r e s u l t e d when achievement tests i n L a t i n (r = .63/40%), French (r = .57/32%), Soc ia l Studies (r = .39/15%) and the sciences (math r = .42/18% and science r = .35/12%) were used to p r e d i c t u n i v e r s i t y GPA ( G a r r e t t , 1949). He found that high school h i s t o r y and science grades c o r r e l a t e d much more highly with u n i v e r s i t y GPA than d i d E n g l i s h grades. Garret t b e l i e v e d , however, that f o r e i g n languages and sciences courses i n u n i v e r s i t y \" s e l e c t e d \" super ior i n t e l l e c t s , rather than \"making\" them. In a study by Travers (1949), students who took high school courses i n the sciences and f o r e i g n * languages d i d s l i g h t l y bet ter i n corresponding f i r s t year u n i v e r s i t y 30 courses , but found some evidence that t h i s i n i t i a l advantage was not maintained. Leonard's (1945) c o r r e l a t i o n s between success i n s p e c i f i c u n i v e r s i t y subjects and scores on general achievement tests were: f o r e i g n languages ( r = .36/13%), E n g l i s h (r = .42/18%), mathematics or science (r = .32/10%). He f e l t these c o r r e l a t i o n s had l i t t l e value when p r e d i c t i n g u n i v e r s i t y success. A s h c r a f t (1969) found that students who took u n i v e r s i t y prepara-tory courses in high school exce l led over those who d i d not take them, but not s i g n i f i c a n t l y so. Achievement i n subject matter areas in u n i v e r s i t y d i d not depend upon any p a r t i c u l a r pattern of high school courses. A s h c r a f t determined that high school achievement was not p a r t i c u l a r l y d e c i s i v e i n u n i v e r s i t y achievement. He con-jectured that non-academic subjects and a c t i v i t i e s in high school contr ibuted to maintained i n t e r e s t i n and adjustment to the academic curr iculum i n u n i v e r s i t y . The present research compared the c o l l e g e academic achievement of high school students taking pre-September 1972 and post-September 1972 high school graduation requirements to determine i f a \"smorgasbord\" of courses was more conducive to success than h i g h l y r e s t r i c t e d graduation requirements. (See Appendix I I . ) Sex and Age and Thei r Rela t ionshi p to Academic Achievement i n Col lege Several s tudies d e f i n i t e l y concluded that sex was one of the basic c o r r e l a t e s of academic performance. Men appeared to have more academic d i f f i c u l t y than women ( D e l l a M a t t i a , 1977, Earmarks, 1973, L a v i n , 1965, N i c o l s , 1966 and Peng and F e t t e r s , 1977). Women were more p r e d i c t a b l e than men i n academic s e t t i n g s ( B a i r d , 1969 and Gross , Faggen and McCarthy, 1974). 31 Many researchers have i n v e s t i g a t e d the r e l a t i o n s h i p between ma-ture adults and academic achievement i n community c o l l e g e and u n i v e r -s i t y . Most of the research tended to i n d i c a t e that o l d e r students d i d at l e a s t as well as , and of ten bet ter than, t h e i r younger counterpar ts , even though they had s i m i l a r or lower high school GPA's ( D e l l a M a t t i a , 1977, Fagin , 1971, F e l d s t e i n , 1974, Ferguson, 1966, H u l l , 1970, Ice , 1971, Reed and Murphy, 1975, Ryan, 1969, S e l t z e r , 1976, Sensor, 1964 and Winslow, 1968). Years Between High School and College The only v a r i a b l e that was considered i n th is s tudy, but not s p e c i f i c a l l y r e f e r r e d to i n any of the reviewed l i t e r a t u r e , was the number of years between leaving high school and enter ing c o l l e g e . The concept of maturity i s an i n t e g r a l part of t h i s v a r i a b l e . This researcher hypothesized that the group of students who waited f o r more than two years before going on to a post-secondary education had s i g n i f i c a n t l y d i f f e r e n t mean c o l l e g e GPA's from the group who immediately went on to c o l l e g e . Summary The s e l e c t i v e review i n Chapter II d e a l t with samples of pre -d i c t i v e s tudies which were conducted r e l a t i v e to the p r e d i c t i o n of post-secondary achievement, p r i m a r i l y from high school academic r e c o r d . The l i t e r a t u r e i n d i c a t e d that t r a d i t i o n a l measures such as high school GPA, achievement in s p e c i f i c s u b j e c t s , as well as personal v a r i a b l e s such as age and sex, provided varying degrees of r e l i a n c e as predic tors of academic success i n c o l l e g e and u n i v e r s i t y . 32 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY D e s c r i p t i o n of the Sample The sample of 643 subjects used in t h i s i n v e s t i g a t i o n included students who attended a l l or part of Grades 11 and 12 at New Westmin-s ter secondary schools (NWSS) and subsequently completed course work at Douglas College (DC) between September 1970 and J u l y 1977. S t u -dents f o r whom no high school t r a n s c r i p t s were a v a i l a b l e (180) and f o r whom no f i l e s could be found ( f i v e ) were excluded from the sample. NWSS students were se lec ted because there have never been more than three high schools i n the D i s t r i c t and New Westminster Secondary School has been the only secondary school s ince 1955. Therefore , these students were f a i r l y representat ive of the l o c a l p o p u l a t i o n . That populat ion has been r e l a t i v e l y s table s ince 1961. New Westminster i s an example of an area which has been urbanized f o r a long time and whose populat ion has been i n c r e a s i n g more slowly than i n other suburban areas . Census data show an approximate 14% population growth rate between 1951 and 1961 and an approximate 20% growth rate from 1961 to 1974. The s i z e of the NWSS graduating c lass between 1975 and 1978 was s t a b l e : 309, 320, 328, 279 and 300. Design of the Study The research was ex post f a c t o - - a c o r r e l a t i o n a l survey with a short - term l o g i t u d i n a l approach. The subjects had attended DC from a minimum of one semester to as many as twelve semesters. The f i r s t 33 date NWSS students entered DC was September 1970 when the c o l l e g e opened. Once a student began completing courses at DC, data were c o l l e c t e d on any courses he had completed up to J u l y 1977. The survey was designed to estimate the extent to which NWSS courses and academic achievement, and other v a r i a b l e s (sex, c o l l e g e entry age, number of years between leaving high school and at tending DC, c o l l e g e enrolment s t a t u s , high school graduation and date of l e a v i n g high school) were r e l a t e d to academic achievement at c o l l e g e . Procedures f o r Data C o l l e c t i o n A NWSS Student Handbook and a DC Calendar were obtained. A l l courses o f f e r e d by e i t h e r i n s t i t u t i o n were designated to one of ten c l u s t e r s according to bas ic subject a r e a - - A r t , Business , E a r l y Childhood Educat ion, English/Communications, Fashion and I n t e r i o r Design, Humanities, I n d u s t r i a l A r t s , Recreat ion, Sciences or Socia l Sciences . The r e s u l t i n g l i s t , Appendix IV, was perused by i n s t r u c -tors at the c o l l e g e and high school l e v e l s to confirm the accepta-b i l i t y of the groupings. A p r i n t o u t was obtained from the DC computer f i l e (at Simon Fraser U n i v e r s i t y ) which i n d i c a t e d , by student i d e n t i f i c a t i o n number and name, those students who had wri t ten on the DC a p p l i c a t i o n form that e i t h e r the l a s t high school they had attended or the high school they graduated from was in New Westminster. The schools were Our Lady o f Fatima (only one student i n the sample), S t . Ann's (one s tudent ) , Trapp T e c h n i c a l , Duke of Connaught, Lester Pearson or New Westminster Secondary School . Trapp Technical and Duke of Connaught were combined and moved into a new school b u i l d i n g i n 1955 and were 34 renamed Lester Pearson. Four students had attended Trapp or Duke of Connaught i n t h i s sample. Lester Pearson, a senior secondary s c h o o l , was renamed New Westminster Secondary School when i t was combined with Vincent Massey Junior Secondary. Student f i l e s were p u l l e d at the Admissions O f f i c e on the Surrey campus of DC. Any student who had r e g i s t e r e d , but had not completed course work at DC was excluded from the sample. I f the f i l e d i d not contain a high school t r a n s c r i p t , the student was a lso excluded (about 180). F i l e s could not be located f o r f i v e s tudents . There-f o r e , from the number of NWSS students who d i d eventual ly take courses at DC (825), 22% could not be used f o r t h i s study (185). The f i n a l sample s i z e was 643. A l l f i l e s were checked to determine i f , indeed, the l a s t high school which the student attended was a New Westminster s c h o o l . The f o l l o w i n g data , which was manually c o l l e c t e d , was not on the DC computer f i l e , except f o r i d e n t i f i c a t i o n numbers. This data i n -cluded high school graduate or non-graduate, p r i o r attendance at another post-secondary i n s t i t u t i o n , date of leaving high s c h o o l , high school cumulative grade point average (high school GPA), number of courses taken i n each c l u s t e r i n high school and c l u s t e r grade point averages (CLUST GPA). A l l GPA's were computed with a hand c a l c u l a t o r . (See D e f i n i t i o n of Terms f o r c a l c u l a t i o n procedures. ) The data were then keypunched on cards . The next step i n the data c o l l e c t i o n involved p u l l i n g more i n -formation on each student from the DC computer f i l e . The information i n c l u d e d : sex, c o l l e g e entry date and age, b i r t h d a t e , c o l l e g e GPA f o r f i r s t semester, f i r s t semester c r e d i t hours , cumulative c o l l e g e GPA, 35 co l lege c r e d i t s taken and earned, c o l l e g e f u l l - and part - t ime semesters, number of courses taken i n each c l u s t e r i n c o l l e g e and c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA's . I f a student had completed S k i l l Development (upgrading) courses , Douglas Four or Douglas Arts 1 Seminar, data on these courses were not c o l l e c t e d . The l a t t e r two courses are combi-nations of E n g l i s h , humanities and s o c i a l sciences which made i t d i f f i c u l t to assign to i n d i v i d u a l c l u s t e r s . A computer program was w r i t t e n to combine the m a n u a l l y - c o l l e c t e d and computer-stored data and p r i n t i t . The data were broken down into numbers of students per c l u s t e r to confirm that there were an adequate number with which the researcher could work, because f o r m u l t i p l e regression a n a l y s i s there should be at l e a s t 30-40 subjects f o r each p r e d i c t o r v a r i a b l e . The E a r l y Childhood Educat ion, Fashion and I n -t e r i o r Design and I n d u s t r i a l Arts c l u s t e r s were excluded from a l l regression analyses because t h e i r respect ive n 's were 32, 12 and 7. The combined data were then keypunched on cards by the computer. This f i n a l set o f cards was used f o r the data analyses . Procedures f o r Data Analyses Results of data analyses were tested at the .05 l e v e l of s i g n i -f icance f o r t - t e s t s and product-moment c o r r e l a t i o n s and at the .01 l e v e l f o r the regression analyses s ince there were several v a r i a b l e s i n v o l v e d . There were three v a r i a b l e s that were considered f o r a l l analyses of the da ta - - sex , c o l l e g e entry age and enrolment s t a t u s . Table II gives a ^ F r e d N. K e r l i n g e r and Elazar R. Pedhazur, M u l t i p l e Regression i n Behavioral Research, New York: H o l t , Rinehart and Winston, I n c . , 1973, page 287. 36 breakdown of the sample on these c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s . Data were sub-jec ted to t - t e s t s to determine any d i f f e r e n c e s between the c o l l e g e GPA's of males and females and p a r t - and f u l l - t i m e s tudents , 11 s t r a t i f y i n g by entry age. Table I I . NWSS Students Attending Douglas College Between September 1970 and June 1977, by Sex, Entry Age and Primary Enrolment S ta tus . ENROLMENT STATUS ENTRY AGE MALE 57.54% (N=370) FEMALE 42.46% (N=273) Young Mature Young Mature TOTAL Part-Time 20.84 C (134) d 3.27 (21) 13.38 ( 86) 4.04 (26) 41.53 (267) F u l l - T i m e 32.50 (209) 0.93 ( 6) 24.73 (159) 0.31 ( 2) 58.47 (376) TOTAL 53.34 (343) 4.20 (27) 38.11 (245) 4.35 (28) 100.00 (643) Young adul t = younger than 25 years o l d ^Mature adul t = 25 years o l d or more cNumber = % of to ta l sample ^Number i n brackets ( ) = number of students i n that c e l l The r a t i o n a l e f o r c o n s i d e r i n g the v a r i a b l e \"sex\" was discussed i n the review of the l i t e r a t u r e on page 30. There was a need to compare the r e l a t i o n s h i p between \"entry age\" 11 Fred N. K e r l i n g e r , Foundations of Behavioral Research, New York; H o l t , Rinehart and Winston, I n c . , 1973, page 220. 37 (young adults versus mature adults ) and c o l l e g e success because the number of mature adults was i n c r e a s i n g at DC and high school GPA for t h i s group had not proven to be a good p r e d i c t o r o f post-secondary GPA. Between F a l l 1971 and Spring 1972, 47% of enrolments at DC were e i t h e r 19 years o l d or had been out of high school one year before enter ing c o l l e g e . By the academic year 1976/77, that number had 12 increased to 64%. Averaging the to ta l student population between September 1970 and September 1977, 55.3% were mature students (DC d e f i n i t i o n as given above) when they f i r s t enroled at c o l l e g e . Mature adul t students in t h i s i n v e s t i g a t i o n were i n the category of 25 years of age or o l d e r . Using t h i s d e f i n i t i o n , the number of NWSS mature entry enrolments at DC f o r the same period of time c o n s t i t u -ted an average of 25% of the student body. Enrolment data at DC i n d i c a t e d a s l i g h t trend to more part - t ime students between 1970 and 1977. Part - t ime students c o n s t i t u t e d 13 approximately 60% of the student body i n 1977. Since the trend d i d e x i s t , t h i s researcher bel ieved i t was worthwhile to consider the r e -l a t i o n s h i p between enrolment status and c o l l e g e GPA. This status was determined by t o t a l l i n g the number of p a r t - and f u l l - t i m e semesters a student attended, then a s s i g n i n g a \"primary s t a t u s \" . A student who completed 12 or more semester c r e d i t s was considered a f u l l - t i m e student ; a student who completed fewer than 12 semester c r e d i t s was 14 considered a part - t ime student . \"Primary s ta tus\" was f u l l - t i m e 12 Verbal information from Jerome D e l l a M a t t i a , D i r e c t o r of Admissions, Douglas C o l l e g e , Spring 1978. I b i d . 1 4 D o u g l a s College Calendar 1977-78, page 18. 38 i f to ta l f u l l - t i m e semesters was equal to or greater than t o t a l par t -time semesters. Hypothesis I There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n between high school GPA and Doulgas College GPA. The f i r s t four sub-hypotheses of t h i s hypothesis were subjected to t - t e s t s to determine any d i f f e r e n c e s between the independent means. Pearson's product-moment c o r r e l a t i o n s were run to t e s t the l a s t two 15 sub-hypotheses. Hypothesis II There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n between academic achievement i n s i m i l a r c l u s t e r s of courses taken i n high school and at c o l l e g e . To t e s t the sub-hypotheses, i n i t i a l l y Pearson's c o r r e l a t i o n s were run on the p r e d i c t o r and c r i t e r i o n v a r i a b l e s f o r each c l u s t e r with an adequate sample s i z e . Then, two m u l t i p l e regression analyses were performed on the d a t a . Appendix V o u t l i n e s some of the d e t a i l s regarding t h i s s t a t i s t i c a l procedure. Any v a r i a b l e s tested i n previous hypotheses that showed s i g n i f i c a n t r e l a t i o n s h i p s with c o l l e g e GPA were included i n the r e g r e s s i o n s . Summaries of the stepwise m u l t i p l e regressions on c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA's were tabulated, f o r c l u s t e r s with s i g n i f i c a n t m u l t i p l e c o r r e l a t i o n 2 c o e f f i c i e n t s ( R ' s ) . * Tables inc lude the m u l t i p l e R and R , standard 2 er rors (SE) , regression equations and increases i n R a t t r i b u t e d to 15 K e r l i n g e r , page 69. i ft K e r l i n g e r and Pedhazur, page 290. * N o n - s i g n i f i c a n t m u l t i p l e R's are general ly not discussed i n t h i s paper. 39 each v a r i a b l e . Secondary s t a t i s t i c s are o u t l i n e d i n a d i f f e r e n t table and include f i n a l F - r a t i o s , degrees of freedom and p a r t i a l c o r r e l a t i o n s of the p r e d i c t o r v a r i a b l e s . Assumptions Regarding Data and Data Analyses 1. Grading procedures at the high school and c o l l e g e l e v e l are s i m i l a r , that i s , they are c lose to those grades and r e l a t e d percen-tage ranges suggested by the B r i t i s h Columbia Department of Educat ion. 2. The success of the regression analyses requires that the c o l l e g e GPA's are normally d i s t r i b u t e d at each value of a p r e d i c t o r v a r i a b l e . The adequate sample s izes of the c l u s t e r s tested i n t h i s study helped ensure a more normal d i s t r i b u t i o n . Plots were run with the regression analyses to check t h i s assumption. L i m i t a t i o n s Regarding Data and Data Analyses The r e s u l t s of t h i s study must be in terpre ted i n l i g h t of several fac tors which may a f f e c t t h e i r g e n e r a l i z a b i l i t y . 1. The study i s ex post facto research, t h e r e f o r e , a . any s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n s found between high school and c o l l e g e v a r i a b l e s merely i n d i c a t e d r e l a t i o n s h i p s ; and b . there was the problem of student s e l f - s e l e c t i o n into DC, but i n the sampling sense t h i s i s not an important f a c t o r s ince the study was not comparing NWSS students who went to c o l l e g e to other NWSS students . 2. Data could not be c o l l e c t e d to i d e n t i f y students who were employed while at tending c o l l e g e . It was impossible to determine any r e l a t i o n s h i p between employment and academic achievement. 3. Socio-economic data could not be gathered, f o r example, 40 parents ' p r o f e s s i o n s , method o f f i n a n c i n g educat ion , income, e t c . , therefore could not be inc luded i n the regression equations . Since the sample i n t h i s study represented the socio-economic range of the e n t i r e population of New Westminster, the e f f e c t of any socio-economic var iables may be \"averaged out\" of the r e s u l t s . 4. No data on i n t e l l e c t u a l a b i l i t y were a v a i l a b l e , f o r example, IQ scores . 5. Departures from randomness i n sample s e l e c t i o n increased the dangers of g e n e r a l i z i n g from these data . As i n d i c a t e d above, i t was necessary to e l iminate students who d i d not have a high school t r a n s -c r i p t on f i l e . This had the e f f e c t of reducing the pppulation from which the sample might have been se lec ted by 22% and introduced a b i a s . 6. There are cautions i n using the p r e d i c t i v e equations which r e f l e c t the f a c t they they a c t u a l l y p r e d i c t GPA's of previous students rather than p r o b a b i l i t i e s of c o l l e g e GPA's of future s tudents . Summary Chapter III presented the sample, research d e s i g n , data c o l l e c t i o n and a n a l y s i s procedures, research hypotheses and assumptions and l i m i t a t i o n s f o r t h i s i n v e s t i g a t i o n . The t y p i c a l student under study has completed course work at both a New Westminster high school and Douglas C o l l e g e , and has made a record of h is high school grades a v a i l a b l e to the c o l l e g e . The s t a t i s t i c a l procedures used i n t h i s study are e f f e c t i v e i n determining the d i f f e r e n c e s between the means of two groups ( t - t e s t ) , the r e l a t i o n s h i p s between groups (Pearson's c o r r e l a t i o n ) and the inf luences o f several v a r i a b l e s upon one independent v a r i a b l e ( m u l t i p l e regression a n a l y s i s ) . 41 CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS OF DATA The r e s u l t s o f the s t a t i s t i c a l tests on the hypotheses are sum-marized i n t h i s chapter under three major headings: Sex, Entry Age and Enrolment S t a t u s ; Hypothesis I ; and Hypothesis I I . Data have been analyzed and compared to the r e s u l t s o f previous research. Because the n 's i n t h i s study are l a r g e , a small absolute d i f f e r e n c e can be h i g h l y s i g n i f i c a n t . For the most p a r t , the actual d i f f e r e n c e s r e s u l t i n g from the t - t e s t s were small r e l a t i v e to the standard d e v i a t i o n s . There were d i f f e r e n c e s between the c o l l e g e GPA's of male/female and p a r t - / f u l l - t i m e students . A l l sub-hypotheses of the f i r s t hypothesis were supported, so there was a s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n between GPA's i n high school and c o l l e g e . In t e s t i n g the second hypothesis concerning the r e l a t i o n s h i p be-tween high school and col lege success i n s i m i l a r c l u s t e r s of courses , three c l u s t e r s could not be analyzed due to small c e l l s i z e s . However, data on f i v e of the remaining seven c l u s t e r s — B u s i n e s s , E n g l i s h / Communications, Humanities , Science and S o c i a l Science—supported t h i s f i r s t sub-hypothesis . The second sub-hypothesis was re jec ted i n a l l cases , i n d i c a t i n g the number o f high school courses taken i n p a r t i c u l a r c l u s t e r s d i d not a f f e c t c o l l e g e achievement i n s i m i l a r c l u s t e r s . Sex, Entry Age and Enrolment Status The data summarized i n Table III support the v a l i d i t y of c o n s i d e r i n g sex, entry age and enrolment status as v a r i a b l e s i n a l l data analyses . The r e s u l t s show that female students achieved s i g n i f i c a n t l y higher c o l l e g e GPA's than male students (t = -6 .17 , p<.05, df=617.29). 42 The data supported the f i n d i n g s of previous researchers ( D e l l a M a t t i a , 1977, Earmarks, 1973, L a v i n , 1965, N i c o l s , 1966 and Peng and F e t t e r s , 1977). Table III.Mean Douglas College G P A ' s , Standard Deviations and \" t\" S t a t i s t i c s f o r Students , by Sex and Entry Age. Student C h a r a c t e r i s t i c Mean DC GPA S . D . n Test of S i g n i f i c a n c e A l l Students Female 2. Male 2. 52 04 .939 1.048 273 370 t = r6^17* Mature A d u l t Students (25+ years) Female 3. Male 2. 18 87 .677 1.047 28 27 t = -1.30 Young Adul t Students (<25 years) Female 2. Male 1. 45 97 .937 1.021 245 343 t = -5.85* *p<.05 When the students were grouped by age and sex, the only s i g n i f i -cant d i f f e r e n c e was between the c o l l e g e GPA's of males and females under 25 years of age--females had higher GPA's ( t = -5 .85 , p<.05, df=550.86). Weitz , Clark and Jones (1955) reported s i m i l a r r e s u l t s . 43 Table IV shows that c o l l e g e GPA's of f u l l - t i m e students were s i g n i f i c a n t l y higher than those of part - t ime students (t = 2.93, p<.05, df=445,81). This v a r i a b l e was an important one to consider because of the i n c r e a s i n g numbers of part - t ime students at Douglas Col lege (DC). When t - t e s t s were run comparing f u l l - and part - t ime students according to \"sex\" , f u l l - t i m e male students achieved s i g n i f i c a n t l y higher GPA's than part - t ime males ( t = 3.00, p<.05, df=254.30). The comparison of students by \"enrolment s ta tus\" and \"age\" r e s u l t e d i n young adul t f u l l - t i m e students achieving s i g n i f i c a n t l y higher GPA's than young part - t ime students (t = 4 .77 , p<.05, df=356.04). Table IV. Mean Douglas College G P A ' s , Standard Deviations and \"t\" S t a t i s t i c s f o r Students , by Enrolment S ta tus , Sex and Entry Age. F u l l - T i m e Part-Time Student Mean Mean Test of C h a r a c t e r i s t i c DC GPA S . D . n DC GPA S . D . n S i g n i f i c a n c e Sex Female 2.57 .815 161 2.45 1.093 112 t = 0.96 Male 2.18 .851 215 1.83 1.246 155 t = 3.00* Age Mature Adul t 3.06 .578 8 3.02 .931 47 t = 0.15 Young Adult 2.33 .846 368 1.89 1.186 220 t = 4.77 * x ^ r ? 9 ? . ! 0 ^ 2 -35 .857 376 2.09 1.221 267 t = 2.93* Total Sample *p<.05 44 Hypothesis I There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n between high school GPA and c o l l e g e GPA. This hypothesis was supported by a l l data analyses , although the s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n s were low and the actual d i f -ferences i n the mean c o l l e g e GPA's were small r e l a t i v e to the standard d e v i a t i o n s . Sub-Hypothesis 1: There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e between the c o l -lege GPA's o f those students who entered c o l l e g e before turning 25 years o l d and those who were at l e a s t 25 years o l d upon entry into DC. The means and standard devia t ions of c o l l e g e GPA's f o r students who entered DC as young and mature adults are summarized i n Table V. The r e s u l t s show that mature adul t students achieved s i g n i f i c a n t l y higher c o l l e g e GPA's than young adul t e n t r i e s (t = 6.78, p<.05, df=68). This f i n d i n g was consis tent with previous i n v e s t i g a t i o n s ( D e l l a M a t t i a , 1977, F e l d s t e i n , 1974, Ferguson, 1966, H u l l , 1970, Ice , 1971, Reed and Murphy, 1975, Ryan, 1969, S e l t z e r , 1976, Sensor, 1964 and Winslow, 1968). Table V. Mean Douglas College G P A ' s , Standard Deviations and \" t\" S t a t i s t i c s f o r Enter ing Young and Mature A d u l t Students , by Enrolment S t a t u s . Mature Adul t (25+) Young Adult (<25) Student Mean Mean Test o f C h a r a c t e r i s t i c DC GPA S . D . n DC GPA S . D . n S i g n i f i c a n c e .856 368 t = 3.46* 1.186 220 t = 7.13* 1.013 588 t = 6.78* F u l l - T i m e 3.05 .478 8 2.33 Part-Time 3.02 .931 47 1.89 Average f o r 3 Q 3 8 8 4 5 5 2 1 ? Total Sample *p<.05 45 Sub-Hypothesis 2: There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e between the c o l l e g e GPA's o f those students who entered DC w i t h i n two years of leaving high school and those students who waited f o r more than two years before at tending c o l l e g e , with nei ther group having attended another post-secondary i n s t i t u t i o n i n the meantime. The r e s u l t s of the t - t e s t on the d i f f e r e n c e s between the c o l l e g e GPA's of students who had more or less than a two year time period between leaving high school and enter ing c o l l e g e are summarized i n Table V I . Table V I . Mean Douglas Col lege G P A ' s , Standard Deviations and \" t\" S t a t i s t i c f o r Students Who Entered College Within Two Years of Leaving High School and Students Who Waited f o r More Than Two Years , Without Attending Another.Post-Secondary Educational I n s t i t u t i o n i n the Meantime. Student C h a r a c t e r i s t i c Mean DC GPA S . D . n Test of S i g n i f i c a n c e Two or More Years Between High School and College 2. 37 1.217 145 t = 1.99* Less Than Two Years Between High School and College 2. 15 .954 445 *p<.05 The r e s u l t s i n d i c a t e that a f t e r leaving high s c h o o l , students who waited f o r at l e a s t two years before at tending DC, without at tending another post-secondary i n s t i t u t i o n , achieved higher GPA's ( t = 1.99, p<.05, df=204.76). This f i n d i n g supports the sub-hypothesis and i s also c o n s i s t e n t with the r e s u l t s of the previous sub-hypothesis . 46 Sub-Hypothesis 3: There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e between the c o l l e g e GPA's of those students who graduated from or l e f t New Westminster high schools (NWSS) before September 1972 and those who graduated or l e f t a f t e r that date . The information i n Table VII confirms the sub-hypothesis that there i s a s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e between the c o l l e g e GPA's of those students who graduated from or l e f t high school before September 1972 and those who graduated or l e f t a f t e r that date (t = -3 .25 , p<.05, df=640.49). Mean c o l l e g e GPA's and \" t\" s t a t i s t i c s were computed f o r mature pre - and post-September 1972 as well as young pre- and post-September 1972 students . There were no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e s between the c o l l e g e GPA's of the young or mature groups. Table V I I . Mean Douglas Col lege G P A ' s , Standard Deviations and \"t\" S t a t i s t i c s f o r Pre- and Post-September 1972 High School Leavers , by Entry Age. Pre-September 1972 Post-September 1972 High School Leavers High School Leavers Student Mean Mean Test of C h a r a c t e r i s t i c DC GPA S . D . n DC GPA S . D . n S i g n i f i c a n c e 1.020 312 t = -1.72 .943 4 t = -0.78 1.020 316 t = -3 .25* Young Adul t 2.24 1.002 276 2.10 Mature Adult 3.05 .883 51 2.67 Average f o r Total Sample 2.37 1.026 327 2.11 *p<.05 47 Sub-Hypothesis 4: There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e between the c o l l e g e GPA's o f those NWSS students who completed high school graduation re -quirements and those who d i d not graduate from high s c h o o l . The means and standard devia t ions of c o l l e g e GPA's f o r high shcool graduates and non-graduates are summarized i n Table V I I I . The r e s u l t s show that graduates achieved s i g n i f i c a n t l y h i g h e r . c o l l e g e GPA's than non-graduates, whether o r not they l e f t high school before o r a f t e r September 1972 (t = -3 .92 , p<.05, df=126.25). When the data were s t r a t i f i e d by age, however, the mature adul t graduates and non-graduates did about the same and the young adul t graduates earned s i g n i f i c a n t l y higher GPA's than young adul t non-graduates ( t = -4 .29 , p<.05, df=109.27). This f i n d i n g was consis tent with F e l d s t e i n ' s (1974) study that used high school graduation as a v a r i a b l e . 48 Table V I I I . Mean Douglas College G P A ' s , Standard Deviat ions and \" t\" S t a t i s t i c s f o r High School Graduates and Non-Graduates, by High School Leaving Date and Col lege Entry Age. High School High School Graduate Non-Graduate Student Mean Mean Test of C h a r a c t e r i s t i c DC GPA S . D . n DC GPA S . D . n S i g n i f i c a n c e HS Leaving Date Pre-Sept . 1972 2. .46 1.001 257 2. ,04 1, .056 70 t = -3. ,01* a Post-Sept . 1972 2. .17 .994 289 1. .43 1, .067 27 t = -3. ,46* b DC Entry Age Mature Adult 3. .08 .893 42 2. .84 .861 13 t = -0, .87 Young Adul t 2. .24 .989 504 1, .72 1. .045 84 t = -4, .29* Average f o r Total Sample 2. .31 1.007 546 1, .85 1, .071 97 t = -3. .92* *p<.05 adf=105.18 bdf=30.37 49 Sub-hypothesis 5: There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n between high school GPA and f i r s t semester c o l l e g e GPA. Sub-hypothesis 6: There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n between high school GPA and c o l l e g e GPA, a f t e r students attend more than one semester at DC. The data summarized i n TableIX confirm the hypotheses that there are low, p o s i t i v e c o r r e l a t i o n s between high school GPA and e i t h e r f i r s t semester c o l l e g e GPA (r = .11*11%) or cumulative c o l l e g e GPA (r = .32*/ 10%). Table IX. C o r r e l a t i o n C o e f f i c i e n t s of High School GPA with F i r s t Semester Douglas College GPA and Cumulative Douglas College GPA. DOUGLAS COLLEGE GPA r (n = 643) F i r s t Semester .27* Cumulative .32* *p<.05 The r e l a t i o n s h i p s were r e l a t i v e l y c o n s i s t e n t with previous research that showed high school GPA c o r r e l a t i n g s l i g h t l y higher with cumulative post-secondary GPA than with f i r s t semester GPA (Lunneborg, 2975 and Richards , Holland and L u t z , 1967). *Data are s i g n i f i c a n t at the .05 l e v e l . 50 The c o r r e l a t i o n between high school and cumulative c o l l e g e GPA was s i m i l a r to that of N i c h o l s ' (1966) r of .33. The f i n d i n g was lower than those c o r r e l a t i o n s found i n other i n v e s t i g a t i o n s at the c o l l e g e leve l where the r ' s ranged from .50 to .59 ( B a i r d , 1969 and Richards and L u t z , 1967). Compared to s tudies at the u n i v e r s i t y l e v e l , the r i n t h i s study was also smal ler than t h e i r average c o r r e l a t i o n of .45 ( A s t i n , 1962 and 1971, Brown and Wolins , 1965, Fishman and P a s a n e l l a , 1960, Goldman and Sexton, 1974, Lunneborg, 1975, N i c o l s and H o l l a n d , 1963 and Richards , Holland and L u t z , 1967). Hypothesis II Sub-Hypothesis 1: There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n between academic achievement i n s i m i l a r c l u s t e r s o f courses taken at NWSS and DC. This sub-hypothesis was supported f o r f i v e c l u s t e r s : Business , English/Communications, Humanities , Science and Soc ia l S c i e n c e . The primary trend i n Table X i s f o r low, p o s i t i v e , s i g n i f i c a n t r e l a t i o n s h i p s to e x i s t between the high school and c o l l e g e c l u s t e r s i n which the c e l l s i z e was 100 or more. The c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t s are summarized i n Table X: Business (r = .25/6%), English/Communications (r = .32/10%), Humanities (r = .34/12%), Science (r = .35/12%) and Socia l Science (r = .24/6%). 51 Table X. Product-Moment C o r r e l a t i o n C o e f f i c i e n t s o f High School C l u s t e r GPA's with Douglas College C l u s t e r GPA's . C l u s t e r :• r n A r t .18 61 Business .25* 100 Ear ly Childhood Education - .08 32 English/Communications .32* 282 Fashion and I n t e r i o r Design .29 12 Humanities .34* 394 I n d u s t r i a l Arts .30 7 Recreation .16 77 Science .35* 373 Soc ia l Science .24* 140 *p<.05 The f i n d i n g s f o r the Business , English/Communications and Science c l u s t e r s were consis tent with the l i t e r a t u r e on achievement i n s p e c i -f i c subject areas (Lunneborg and Lunneborg, 1969, Mann, 1976 and W i l l i a m s , 1950). Other c l u s t e r areas have not been s tudied and w r i t t e n upon by researchers although c o r r e l a t i o n s between i n d i v i d u a l subjects have been analyzed. Sub-Hypothesis 2: There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e between c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA's of those students who took z e r o , one to two, three to f o u r , or f i v e or more courses i n that c l u s t e r in high s c h o o l . 52 To ensure that the r e s u l t s of a l l previous hypotheses were i n -cluded while t e s t i n g the f i n a l hypothesis concerned with r e l a t i o n s h i p s between high school and c o l l e g e c l u s t e r s , m u l t i p l e regression a n a l y s i s was performed on the data . The f i r s t step involved computing Pearson's product-moment c o r r e l a t i o n s f o r each c l u s t e r . The c o r r e l a t i o n s were between the c r i t e r i o n v a r i a b l e ( co l lege c l u s t e r GPA) and the p r e d i c t o r v a r i a b l e s (high school c l u s t e r GPA, number of high school courses taken in the c l u s t e r , c o l l e g e entry age and high school GPA). The predic tors having the highest degree of c o r r e l a t i o n with c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA were \"high school GPA\" and \"high school c l u s t e r GPA\". Summaries o f the i n t e r c o r r e l a t i o n matrices are reported i n Appendix V I . The c o r r e l a -t ions i n v o l v i n g dichotomous v a r i a b l e s - - s e x , enrolment s t a t u s , high school leaving date (pre - or post-September 1972) and high school graduation—were not included in the appendix because the c o r r e l a -t i o n f igures would be m i s l e a d i n g . However, these v a r i a b l e s were included i n the regress ion equations because previous t - t e s t s proved them to be s i g n i f i c a n t . As the second s tep , two regression analyses were run on the c l u s t e r s that had s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n s between high school c l u s t e r GPA and c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA—Business, English/Communications, Humanities, Science and Soc ia l Sc ience . Results were checked f o r homoscedacicity (homogeneity of variance) by producing plots to examine the r e s i d u a l s . There were no abnormali t ies with any of the r e g r e s s i o n s . The f i r s t regression analys is forced two p r e d i c t o r v a r i a b l e s : \"number of high school courses taken in the c l u s t e r \" and \"high school 53 c l u s t e r GPA\". The second a n a l y s i s , i n which no_ v a r i a b l e s were f o r c e d , produced s l i g h t l y more powerful p r e d i c t i o n equations . Consequently, only the summary f o r the second a n a l y s i s and i t s secondary s t a t i s t i c s are reported in Appendices VII and V I I I . Table XI provides s k e l e t a l d e t a i l s of t h i s second a n a l y s i s . Table XI. S i g n i f i c a n t M u l t i p l e Predic t ions with Douglas Col lege C l u s t e r GPA's as C r i t e r i o n . C l u s t e r n R R 2 Standard Error Business 100 .31** a .09 1.15 English/Communications 282 .17 1.08 Humanities 394 .20 .95 Science 372 . 4 6 * * ° .21 1.00 Soc ia l Science 140 .36** d .13 1.06 **p<.01 a R reached with 2 predic tors i n the equation. b R reached with 5 predic tors i n the equat ion. C R reached with 6 predic tors i n the equat ion. d R reached with 4 predic tors i n the equat ion. The r e s u l t s were expected from the previous a n a l y s i s of the i n t e r c o r r e l a t i o n matr ices . The \"high school c l u s t e r GPA\" was se lec ted as the f i r s t v a r i a b l e i n a l l cases except f o r the Soc ia l Science c l u s t e r . The \"number of high school courses\" was seldom 54 included i n the equat ion , and when i t was s e l e c t e d , i t was one of the l a s t v a r i a b l e s to be chosen. Low, p o s i t i v e s i g n i f i c a n t (**) m u l t i p l e c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t s (R's) were found f o r a l l c l u s t e r s tes ted : Business (R =..31/9%), English/Communications (R = .41/10%), Humanities (R = .44/20%), Science (R = .46/21%) and S o c i a l Science (R = .36/13%). \"High school c l u s t e r GPA\" was the only v a r i a b l e se lec ted f o r a l l the regression equations and i t was se lec ted f i r s t i n a l l cases but the Soc ia l Science c l u s t e r where i t was selec ted t h i r d . This v a r i a b l e accounted f o r 6 to 12% of the variance i n c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA when i t was se lec ted f i r s t . \"High school graduation\" was the f i r s t v a r i a b l e chosen i n the Socia l Science regression and accounted f o r 6% of the variance i n c o l l e g e Socia l Science c l u s t e r GPA. \"Age\" and \"sex\" were included i n the p r e d i c t i o n equations f o r the English/Communications, Humanities, Science and Soc ia l Science c l u s t e r s , but contr ibuted <1/1000% to the variance i n c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA. Only the Science and Humanities c l u s t e r s se lec ted the v a r i a b l e \"number of courses taken i n the c l u s t e r i n high s c h o o l \" and i t was chosen towards or at the end of the computations, c o n t r i b u t i n g an extremely small amount (1% or less ) to the variance of c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA. When the equivalency f i g u r e s were s u b s t i t u t e d f o r the v a r i a b l e labels in the regression equat ions , for every high school course taken in Sc ience , the predicted c o l l e g e Science GPA increased by .07 p o i n t s . The corresponding increase in the Soc ia l Science c l u s t e r GPA was .11. Therefore , the number of high school courses taken i n a c l u s t e r made no s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e i n the c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA i n that area . The sub-hypothesis 2 was r e j e c t e d . This f i n d i n g was supported by the 55 majori ty of the reviewed l i t e r a t u r e conducted on u n i v e r s i t y students ( A s h c r a f t , 1969, Byrns and Henmon, 1935, Douglass, 1931, G a r r e t t , 1949, Leonard, 1945, Sexton and Goldman, 1974 and T r a v e r s , 1949) and rearch conducted on c o l l e g e students ( F e l d s t e i n , 1974). In summary, high school academic v a r i a b l e s , on t h e i r own had l o t a b i l i t y to p r e d i c t academic success in c o l l e g e . However, when equivalency f i g u r e s were s u b s t i t u t e d f o r the v a r i a b l e l a b e l s i n the regression equations , as high school grades i n c l u s t e r s i n creased , so d i d achievement i n corresponding c o l l e g e c l u s t e r s . Summary The hypotheses of t h i s study were concerned with academic achieve-ment and courses taken i n Grades 11 and 12 i n New Westminster high schools and subsequent achievement by students at Douglas C o l l e g e . The f i r s t hypothesis that there was a s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n between o v e r a l l academic achievement i n high school and c o l l e g e was supported. Sub-hypotheses confirmed moderately low, s i g n i f i c a n t , p o s i t i v e c o r r e l a t i o n s between high school and c o l l e g e GPA's and s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e s i n c o l l e g e GPA's favor ing the female, mature e n t r y , f u l l - t i m e student who completed high school graduation r e q u i r e -ments before September 1972 and waited at l e a s t two years before enter ing c o l l e g e . For the most p a r t , actual d i f f e r e n c e s r e s u l t i n g from the t - t e s t s were small r e l a t i v e to the standard d e v i a t i o n s . Within the f i v e c l u s t e r s , the hypothesis that there was a s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n between academic achievement i n s i m i l a r c l u s t e r s of courses at the high school and c o l l e g e l e v e l was supported i n the c u r r i c u l a r areas of Business , English/Communications, Humanities, 56 Science and Soc ia l Science . The p r e d i c t i v e a b i l i t y of grades i n the s i g n i f i c a n t l y c o r r e l a t e d c l u s t e r s was low. The primary trend was f o r students with higher c l u s t e r GPA's i n high school to earn higher c o l l e g e GPA's i n the f i v e corresponding c l u s t e r s t e s t e d . The sub-hypothesis that the number of high school courses taken i n a c l u s t e r made a s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e i n the c o l l e g e GPA of that same c l u s t e r was r e j e c t e d . 57 . CHAPTER V ANALYSIS OF OTHER FINDINGS In the course of analyzing the data , p r e v i o u s l y unantic ipated analyses were decided upon, which enabled the researcher to i n v e s t i -gate a d d i t i o n a l quest ions . C o r r e l a t i o n of College GPA with High School GPA, by High School Leaving Date Pearson's product moment c o r r e l a t i o n s ( r ' s ) were computed between high school grade point average (GPA) and f i r s t semester and cumulative co l lege GPA f o r pre - and post-September 1972 high school l e a v e r s . The data were s t r a t i f i e d by Douglas College (DC) \"enrolment s t a t u s \" , \" co l lege entry age\" and \"sex\" . The r e s u l t s of the a n a l y s i s are summarized i n Table XII . The o v e r a l l c o r r e l a t i o n between high school and c o l l e g e cumulative GPA's , as p r e v i o u s l y t e s t e d , was r = ,32*/10%, and f o r f i r s t semester c o l l e g e GPA, r was .11*11%. When the to ta l sample was categorized according to \"high school leaving d a t e \" , the pre-1972 group's high school GPA's showed low, p o s i t i v e c o r r e l a t i o n s with f i r s t semester (r = .25*/6%) and cumulative (r = .11*11%) c o l l e g e GPA. The r ' s f o r the post-1972 high school leavers were h igher : r = .36*/13% and .44*/20%, r e s p e c t i v e l y . Most of the s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n s with cumulative c o l l e g e GPA f o r the post-1972 group ( r ' s ranging from .26 to .55) f e l l w i t h i n the range of those found by previous i n v e s t i g a t o r s (r = .33 to . 5 1 ) . i n *p<.05 58 studies published between 1960 and 1975. The primary trend f o r Table XII i s f o r the high school GPA's o f post-September 1972 leavers to c o r r e l a t e more h i g h l y with c o l l e g e GPA's than those of students who l e f t high school before the 1972 graduation requirement changes. Table XII . Product-Moment C o r r e l a t i o n C o e f f i c i e n t s of High School GPA with F i r s t Semester Col lege GPA and Cumulative College GPA, f o r Pre- and Post-September 1972 High School Leavers , by Enrolment S t a t u s , Entry Age and Sex. Pre-September 1972 High School Leavers Post-September 1972 High School Leavers Student F i r s t Semester Cumulative F i r s t Semester Cumulative C h a r a c t e r i s t i c College GPA College GPA College GPA College GPA Enrolment Status F u l l - T i m e Part-Time DC Entry Age Mature Adul t Young Adul t Sex Female Male Average f o r Total Sample .36* .36* (180) a ,16* .11 .32* .10 .25* ,25* (147) ( 51) (276) (120) (207) (327) .20* .16 .33* .15* .25* .27* .46* 19* .75 .37* .33* ,31* (196) (120) ( 4) (312) (153) (163) .55* .26* .85 .45* .41* .39* .36* .44* (316) *p<.05 a The number i n the brackets ( ) = number of students i n the c e l l . 59 When c o r r e l a t i o n s were computed f o r the subsets of the sample, the tendencies of the pre- and post-1972 c o r r e l a t i o n s remained. The r ' s f o r post-1972 f u l l - and p a r t - t i m e , mature and young a d u l t and males and females were higher than those of t h e i r pre-1972 counterparts by .04 to .26. Notably higher c o r r e l a t i o n s were found between high school GPA and f i r s t semester and cumulative c o l l e g e GPA f o r f u l l - t i m e , post-1972 high school l e a v e r s : r = .46*/21% and r = .55*/30%. Regression A n a l y s i s Including High School GPA as a P r e d i c t o r A t h i r d set of regression analyses were run with the i n c l u s i o n of the v a r i a b l e \"high school GPA\" to determine i f t h i s v a r i a b l e was a bet ter p r e d i c t o r of c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA than was \"high school c l u s t e r GPA\". The Pearson's c o r r e l a t i o n s computed f o r the f i r s t regression a n a l y s i s i n d i c a t e d such a p o s s i b i l i t y (Table X I I I ) . Rela t ionships that had been s i g n i f i c a n t between \"high school c l u s t e r GPA\" and c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA were also s i g n i f i c a n t between \"high school GPA\" and c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA. The c o r r e l a t i o n f o r the Recreation c l u s t e r was only s i g n i f i c a n t with \"high school GPA\". A l l n o n - s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n s computed were i n the \" e l e c t i v e s \" c l u s t e r s which had numbers less than 100: E a r l y Childhood Educat ion , Fashion and I n t e r i o r Design and I n d u s t r i a l A r t s . In most of the c l u s t e r s , except English/Communications and I n d u s t r i a l A r t s , there were greater c o r r e l a t i o n s between \"high school GPA\" and c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA than between \"high school c l u s t e r GPA\" and c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA. The E n g l i s h r dropped from .32* to .25* and that of Indust r ia l A r t s , from .30 to .09. 60 Table XIII . Product-Moment C o r r e l a t i o n C o e f f i c i e n t s of Douglas College C l u s t e r GPA's with High School GPA and High School C l u s t e r GPA. C l u s t e r — ! High School ( GPA High School C l u s t e r GPA \" r \" n A r t .29* .18 61 Business .43* .25* 100 E a r l y Childhood Education - .03 - .08 32 English/Communications .2.5* .32* 282 Fashion and I n t e r i o r Design .33 .29 12 Humanities .36* .34* 394 I n d u s t r i a l Ar ts .09 .30 7 Recreation .31* .16 77 Science .39* .35* 373 Socia l Science .42* .24* 140 *p<.05 The analyses were run on the c l u s t e r s that had s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a -t ions between \"high school GPA\" and c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA--Business , . English/Communications, Humanities, Recreat ion, Science and Soc ia l Sc ience . Residuals were again examined r e v e a l i n g no a b n o r m a l i t i e s . Skele ta l r e s u l t s are given' i n Table XIV. Summaries are reported in Appendices IX and X. Only f i v e c l u s t e r s had s i g n i f i c a n t (p<.01) m u l t i p l e c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t s ( R ' s ) : Business (R = .48/23%), English/Communications (R = .41/17%), Humanities (R = .46/21%), Science (R = .49/24%) and Socia l Science (R = .47/22%). As in the second regression a n a l y s i s , 61 the c o e f f i c i e n t s were low, although they were s l i g h t l y higher than the R's i n the second regression a n a l y s i s f o r a l l c l u s t e r s except English/Communications. Those R's were: Business (R = .31/9%), English/Communications (R = .41/17%), Humanities (R = .44/20%), Science (R = .46/21%) and Soc ia l Science (R = .36/13%). The m u l t i p l e c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t s j u s t given were s i g n i f i c a n t a t the .01 l e v e l . The Recreation R i n the previous regression was not s i g n i f i c a n t , and therefore i s not reported . Table XIV. S i g n i f i c a n t M u l t i p l e Predic t ions with Douglas College C l u s t e r GPA's as C r i t e r i o n , Including High School GPA as a P r e d i c t o r . C l u s t e r n R R 2 Standard Error Business 100 .23 1.07 Engli sh/Communications 282 41**b .17 1.08 Humanities 394 .21 .94 Recreation 77 .18 .98 Science 372 .24 .99 Socia l Science 140 ^ 4 7**e . 22 1.00 **p<.01 a R reached with 4 p r e d i c t o r s i n the equat ion. b R reached with 6 predic tors i n the equation. C R reached with 7 p r e d i c t o r s i n the equat ion. d R reached with 3 predic tors i n the equation. e R reached with 4 predic tors i n the equation. 62 The c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t of \"high school GPA\" to c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA, when i t stood a lone , ranged from .32 to .42. This r was lower than those found by Baird (1969)--r = .50 to .59, however he was p r e d i c t i n g c o l l e g e GPA, not c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA. The Engl ish m u l t i p l e c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t remained the same as with the previous regression a n a l y s i s because \"high school E n g l i s h GPA\" was se lec ted f i r s t f o r the English/Communications equat ion , accounting f o r 10% of the variance i n c o l l e g e Engl ish GPA. This was the only high school subject area that was the s trongest p r e d i c t o r of academic achievement in i t s corresponding c o l l e g e subject area . \"High school GPA\" predic ted c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA more s t r o n g l y f o r a l l other c l u s t e r s tes ted . \"High school GPA\" was chosen f i r s t i n these c l u s t e r s , accounting f o r 13 to 18% of the variance i n c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA's . Since \"high school c l u s t e r GPA\" and \"high school GPA\" were moderately c o r r e l a t e d (see Appendix V I ) , i t was expected that only one of these v a r i a b l e s would be included i n each regression equat ion. Three c l u s t e r s se lec ted both of these v a r i a b l e s , enter ing the \"high school c l u s t e r GPA\" towards the end—Humanities, Science and Soc ia l Science . The \"high school c l u s t e r GPA\" contr ibuted less than 1% to the variance of c o l l e g e GPA i n each of these c l u s t e r s , which i s a lso t y p i c a l f o r h i g h l y c o r r e l a t e d v a r i a b l e s i n regression a n a l y s i s . Only one c o n s i s t e n t pattern appeared f o r the order o f s e l e c t i o n of the v a r i a b l e s : \"entry age\" was chosen before \"sex\" . , \"Entry age\" was the only v a r i a b l e other than \"high school GPA\" selec ted i n a l l s i g n i f i c a n t p r e d i c t i o n s . However, \"entry age\" explained almost none ( less than 1%) of the variance i n the co l lege c l u s t e r GPA. \"Sex\" was included i n a l l 63 equations but Business , c o n t r i b u t i n g even less to the var iance . \"Enrolment s ta tus\" and \"high school leaving date\" were included i n some equat ions , but t h e i r cont r i b u t i o n s were n e g l i g a b l e . As with the second regression run , the v a r i a b l e \"number of courses taken i n the c l u s t e r i n high s c h o o l \" was se lec ted only f o r the Humanities and Science c l u s t e r s . It was chosen towards the middle of the equat ions , again c o n t r i b u t i n g an extremely small amount ( less than 1%) to the variance of c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA. So , as with the academic p r e d i c t o r s in the second regression r u n , \"high school GPA\" along with other academic v a r i a b l e s d isplayed low, p o s i t i v e r e l a t i o n s h i p s with academic achievement i n c o l l e g e . However, the primary trend was f o r students who had higher GPA's i n high school to have higher GPA's i n c o l l e g e , with high school record having decreased e f f e c t as students get o l d e r . 6 4 CHAPTER VI DISCUSSION OF DATA The r e s u l t s of the s t a t i s t i c a l tests on the hypothesis and a d d i t i o n a l tests are combined, analyzed and i n t e r p r e t e d i n t h i s chapter under three headings: Sex, Entry Age and Enrolment S t a t u s ; Hypothesis I ; and Hypothesis I I . Other Findings are included with the appropriate hypothesis . The reader i s encouraged to keep two facts i n mind when reading t h i s d i s c u s s i o n . Although there were s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e s between GPA's of various groups, f o r the most p a r t , the actual d i f f e r e n c e s were small r e l a t i v e to the standard d e v i a t i o n s . Secondly, the c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t s , although s i g n i f i c a n t , were genera l ly low with r e l a t i v e l y large standard errors f o r the m u l t i p l e c o e f f i c i e n t s . Sex, Entry Age and Enrolment Status Female students c o n s i s t e n t l y earned higher grades than male s tudents , with t h e i r average GPA (grade point average) being .5 above that f o r men. When the data was s t r a t i f i e d by c o l l e g e \"entry age\", young women d i d s i g n i f i c a n t l y bet ter than young men, but the d i f f e r e n c e s were not s i g n i f i c a n t f o r mature men and women. Perhaps young women are motivated to be \"good\" students and young men are encouraged to be and do other things during t h e i r y o u t h ; the reasons are open to guesswork. S i m i l a r l y , when consider ing \"enrolment s t a t u s \" , f u l l - t i m e young adults did bet ter than those e n r o l l e d p a r t - t i m e , by almost .5 of a grade p o i n t . F u l l - t i m e males earned s l i g h t l y higher grades than p a r t -65 time males. However, the c o l l e g e GPA's of mature adults and females were not r e l a t e d to \"enrolment status'.'. There could be several reasons f o r these r e s u l t s . Perhaps the o u t - o f - c l a s s a c t i v i t i e s of young p a r t -time students were i n t e r f e r i n g with t h e i r academic work—employment, family r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s , r e c r e a t i o n , e t c . ; perhaps the \"environmental presses\" of the DC campuses d i d not \" f i t \" with the p e r s o n a l i t i e s of the young adul t or male part - t ime s tudents ; mature adults and women do bet ter even as f u l l - t i m e s tudents ; o r , young students simply have not made t h e i r educational d e c i s i o n s and are simply \" f i l l i n g t i m e \" . It appears that m a t u r i t y , e s p e c i a l l y f o r males, was r e l a t e d to academic success at c o l l e g e , that i s , c o l l e g e GPA increased s i g n i f i -c a n t l y with age. I t may simply be a r e s u l t of the mature student having had time to i d e n t i f y his educational and career goals and, t h e r e f o r e , having a d i f f e r e n t a t t i t u d e towards a c o l l e g e educat ion . Tables III and IV summarize the above data . Hypothesis I There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n between high school GPA and c o l l e g e GPA. Sub-Hypothesis 1: There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e between the c o l l e g e GPA's of those students who entered c o l l e g e before t u r n i n g 25 years o l d and those who were at l e a s t 25 years o l d upon entry into Douglas College (DC). Sub-Hypothesis 2: There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e between the c o l -lege GPA's of those students who entered DC w i t h i n two years of l e a v i n g high school and those who waited f o r more than two years before 66 at tending c o l l e g e , with ne i ther group having attended another post -secondary i n s t i t u t i o n i n the meantime. These two sub-hypotheses are grouped together because the r e s u l t s of t h e i r tests i n d i c a t e d s i m i l a r r e l a t i o n s h i p s . Mature adults (25+) earned much higher c o l l e g e GPA's than young adul t e n t r i e s , whether p a r t - or f u l l - t i m e . High school students who took two or more years \" o f f \" before s t a r t i n g at DC had GPA's .25 higher than those who went s t r a i g h t to c o l l e g e from high school or had less than two year break between the two i n s t i t u t i o n s . The f a c t that the c o l l e g e GPA's i n t h i s study r e f l e c t e d the grades of students who might have been taking courses over several semesters and y e a r s , even though those i n d i v i d u a l s maintained t h e i r o r i g i n a l group membership according to c o l l e g e \"entry age\" , provided strong support f o r the i n t e r p r e t a t i o n that o r i g i n a l \"entry age\" was s i g n i f i c a n t l y r e l a t e d to academic achievement at c o l l e g e . The above r e s u l t s , summarized in Tables V and V I , i n d i c a t e that c o l l e g e GPA increased with \"entry age\". They could a lso point to a p o s i t i v e r e l a t i o n s h i p between the durat ion of time between high school and c o l l e g e and the r e s u l t i n g c o l l e g e GPA. Experiences be-tween leaving high school and a c t u a l l y enter ing c o l l e g e may h el p -young people to reassess t h e i r a b i l i t i e s and g o a l s , as well as i n -creasing t h e i r motivation f o r doing well i n c o l l e g e . This \"maturity f a c t o r \" d i d , indeed, bear some r e l a t i o n s h i p to the academic achievement of DC students . 67 Sub-Hypothesis 3: There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e between the c o l l e g e GPA's o f those students who graduated from or l e f t New Westminster high schools (NWSS) before September 1972 and those who graduated or l e f t a f t e r that date . The B r i t i s h Columbia ( B . C . ) high school graduation requirements changed s i g n i f i c a n t l y i n 1972. The data showed that pre-September 1972 high school leavers did earn s l i g h t l y higher c o l l e g e GPA's (Table V I I ) . T h e i r higher mean GPA could have been r e l a t e d to the f a c t that there was a l a r g e r percentage of mature adults i n the pre-1972 group (16%) compared to 1% i n the post-1972 group. However, ne i ther the d i f f e r e n c e s between the GPA's of pre - and post-1972 young adults nor those between p r e - and post-1972 mature adults were s i g n i f i c a n t . Consequently, maturity was not the primary v a r i a b l e accounting f o r the higher grades of the pre-1972 group. Perhaps changing academic standards at the high school l e v e l contr ibuted to the f i n d i n g s . Academic grade i n f l a t i o n was b r i e f l y discussed i n the i n t r o d u c t i o n to t h i s paper. Dennison,et a l . (1975) suggested that more \" A \" and \" B \" high school students were choosing c o l l e g e over u n i v e r s i t y f o r the f i r s t two years o f t h e i r post -secondary educat ion. This would provide an explanation f o r the increased mean high school GPA's o f the postrl972 students enter ing DC, e s p e c i a l l y s ince the s c a t t e r p l o t s showed many more students e n r o l l i n g a f t e r 1973 with high school averages above 3.0. The mean high school GPA's of the post-1972 group were s i g n i f i -c a n t l y higher than the pre-1972 students by .24 of a grade p o i n t , with small standard devia t ions (.029 and .033) (Table I ) . Therefore , i t was expected that the post-1972 students would earn higher c o l l e g e 68 GPA's than the pre-1972 l e a v e r s . The reverse was t r u e ; they earned GPA's an average .26 of a grade point lower although t h i s d i f f e r e n c e was small r e l a t i v e to the S . D . ' s (1.026 and 1.020). I f grading standards at NWSS were lowered or relaxed a f t e r the 1972 removal of province-wide Grade 12 examinations, the i n t r o d u c t i o n of more l i b e r a l graduation requirements, and the promotion of l o c a l l y developed c u r r i c u l a , then i t would explain the increase i n the mean high school average f o r the post-1972 high school leavers and the subsequent decrease i n t h e i r co l lege GPA's . A p a r t i a l explanation f o r the success of the pre-September 1972 students could be that they acquired study h a b i t s , s k i l l s and a t t i t u d e s from a more academically \" r i g o r o u s \" high school experience which stood them i n good stead i n t h e i r c o l l e g e courses . Perhaps, as the Academic Board suggested, i t was important f o r high school students to be minimally prepared i n the c u r r i c u l a o f \" e s s e n t i a l \" d i s c i p l i n e s — E n g l i s h , mathematics, s c i e n c e s , s o c i a l sciences and second languages. Such a background may be a good foundation on which to b u i l d future academic success . Sub-Hypothesis 4: There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e between the c o l l e g e GPA's o f those students who completed high school graduation requirements and those who d i d not graduate from high s c h o o l . The primary trend i n Table VIII was f o r secondary school graduates to earn c o l l e g e GPA's an average .5 higher than non-graduates. Graduates d i d bet ter whether they l e f t high school before or a f t e r the change i n high school graduation requirements. 69 The GPA's of young adul t graduates were s i g n i f i c a n t l y higher than those of young adul t non-graduates, but t h i s d i f f e r e n c e d i d not hold f o r mature adul t s tudents . A g a i n , the \"maturity f a c t o r \" seemed to counterbalance the lack of a high school diploma and course back-ground f o r a mature student l a t e r a t tending c o l l e g e . Sub-Hypothesis 5: There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n between high school GPA and f i r s t semester c o l l e g e GPA. Sub-Hypothesis 6: There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n between high school GPA and c o l l e g e GPA a f t e r students attend more than one semester at DC. The c o r r e l a t i o n s between high school GPA and e i t h e r f i r s t semester c o l l e g e GPA (r = .21*11%) or cumulative c o l l e g e GPA (r = .32*/10%) were low and p o s i t i v e . The c o r r e l a t i o n between high school and c o l l e g e GPA was roughly equivalent with N i c o l s ' (1966) r of .33, even though h i s study was concerned with students of high academic a b i l i t y . Such i n d i v i d u a l s have not been t y p i c a l community c o l l e g e students i n B . C . (Dennison, e t a l . , 1975). The f i n d i n g was lower than those c o r r e l a t i o n s i n previous i n v e s t i -gations at the c o l l e g e l e v e l — r = .50 to .59 ( B a i r d , 1969 and Richards and L u t z , 1967). Bai rd used academic high school GPA, o p t i m a l l y weighted with American Col lege Test scores to p r e d i c t c o l l e g e grades *p<.05 70 i n occupational and academic c u r r i c u l a . Richards and Lutz a lso used academic high school GPA. The above fac tors r e s u l t e d i n GPA's not t r u l y representat ive of the high school GPA's of t y p i c a l c o l l e g e students . This i n v e s t i g a t i o n used to ta l high school GPA. When comparing the c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t of t h i s i n v e s t i g a t i o n (r = .32) to those found i n s tudies at the u n i v e r s i t y l e v e l , i t was also smaller than t h e i r average r of .45 ( A s t i n , 1962 and 1972, Brown and Wolins , 1965, Fishman and P a s a n e l l a , 1960, Goldman and Sexton, 1974, Lunneborg, 1975, N i c o l s and H o l l a n d , 1963 and Richards , Holland and L u t z , 1967). Again the high school GPA's used i n t h e i r s tudies were probably weighted because u n i v e r s i t y s tudents ' high school programs are genera l ly 80% academic. This would expla in the higher c o r r e l a t i o n s with the academic programs at u n i v e r s i t i e s . C o r r e l a t i o n of College GPA with High School GPA, by High School Leaving Date By separat ing the students according to the date they l e f t high s c h o o l , the data could be looked at i n l i g h t of the 1972 changes i n high school graduation requirements. C o r r e l a t i o n s between high school and c o l l e g e GPA's of students who attended high school under the new, more l i b e r a l graduation r e -quirements were c o n s i s t e n t l y higher than those found f o r the pre-1972 group, with an average r of .36*/13% f o r f i r s t semester c o l l e g e GPA and .44*/19% f o r cumulative c o l l e g e GPA. Table XII summarizes the data . It appears t h a t , contrary to the Academic Board's statement, NWSS grades as predic tors of c o l l e g e achievement are more r e l i a b l e now than those grades earned under p r i o r . g r a d u a t i o n requirements. The r e s u l t s could r e f l e c t the f a c t that the post-1972 leavers 71 more l i k e l y se lec ted t h e i r high school courses on the basis o f i n t e r e s t , a b i l i t y and need, ra ther than the pre-1972 r e s t r i c t e d course s e l e c t i o n s . Presumably, students chose c o l l e g e courses and programs p r i m a r i l y on t h i s same b a s i s , thus , higher c o r r e l a t i o n s r e s u l t e d . The data were f u r t h e r s t r a t i f i e d by \"enrolment s t a t u s \" , c o l l e g e \"entry age\" and \"sex\". The r e s u l t i n g s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n s with cumulative c o l l e g e GPA were i n a s i m i l a r range (r = .33 to .59) to those found by previous i n v e s t i g a t o r s at the community c o l l e g e l e v e l (Table XII ) . S p e c i f i c a l l y , f o r the pre-1972 group, r ' s were: f u l l -time students (.36) and young adults ( .33) ; and f o r the post-1972 students : f u l l - t i m e ( .55) , young adults ( .45) , females (.41) and males ( .39) . The f i n d i n g s f o r the young adul t students i n d i c a t e d that t h e i r high school GPA's were more h i g h l y c o r r e l a t e d with c o l l e g e GPA than were those of mature a d u l t s . Perhaps \"maturi ty\" v a r i a b l e s (encompassing l i f e experiences , m o t i v a t i o n , e t c . ) i n younger students were not developed to the point that they showed a strong r e l a t i o n -ship with academic achievement. The c o r r e l a t i o n s f o r females and males were qui te a b i t higher f o r the post-1972 high school l e a v e r s . S p e c i f i c a l l y , f o r women they increased from .15/1% to .41/17% and f o r men, from .25/6% to .39/15%. Part o f the increase was simply due to l a r g e r sample s i z e s f o r the post-1972 group. These r e s u l t s are probably a r e f l e c t i o n of the changes i n graduation requirements which allowed students to pursue c u r r i c u l a r areas i n high school complementary to t h e i r personal needs, i n t e r e s t s and a b i l i t i e s . A g a i n , presumably c o l l e g e programs were se lec ted on the same b a s i s . 72 Hypothesis II There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n between academic achievement i n s i m i l a r c l u s t e r s o f courses taken at NWSS and DC. Sub-hypothesis 1: as above. The p o s i t i v e c o r r e l a t i o n s r e s u l t i n g from the data a n a l y s i s pro-vided p a r t i a l support f o r the sub-hypothesis , although the values were low. The general trend f o r Table X was f o r c l u s t e r s with n ' s over 100 to produce s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n s ranging from .25/6% to .35/12% i n Business , English/Communications, Humanities, Science and Socia l Science . The f i n d i n g s f o r Business , Engl ish and Science were s i m i l a r to those i n the l i t e r a t u r e on achievement i n c l u s t e r s and to 50% o f the r ' s c a l c u l a t e d i n s p e c i f i c s u b j e c t s , e s p e c i a l l y in the science area . S l i g h t l y lower, n o n - s i g n i f i c a n t r ' s (-.08/1% to .30/9%) r e s u l t e d when c l u s t e r s o f less than 100 subjects were analyzed ( A r t , E a r l y Childhood Educat ion, Fashion and I n t e r i o r Design, I n d u s t r i a l Arts and Recreat ion) . These c l u s t e r s represented subjects i n areas commonly known as \" e l e c t i v e s \" . Unfor tunate ly , t h e i r sample s i z e s were not of equal s i z e to those mentioned above, because i t would have been valuable to see i f l a r g e r samples would give c o r r e l a t i o n s which were s i g n i f i c a n t and i n a s i m i l a r range to those of \"academic\" c l u s t e r s . Such r e s u l t s would point to s i m i l a r i t i e s i n grading p r a c t i c e s and standards i n c u r r i c u l a r areas at the c o l l e g e and high school l e v e l s . However, because c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t s do genera l ly increase with sample s i z e , these r e s u l t s may point to even lower \" r e a l \" r e l a t i o n s h i p s f o r the large c lus ters . - ' « £ ~ 73 The Academic Board Suggested that province-wide Grade 12 exami-nations i n E n g l i s h , mathematics, s c i e n c e s , s o c i a l sciences and second languages be re int roduced . Embodied i n t h i s statement was the assumption that high school students should meet minimum standards i n these \" e s s e n t i a l \" d i s c i p l i n e s . The r e s u l t s o f the c o r r e l a t i o n a l a n a l y s i s i n t h i s i n v e s t i g a t i o n i n d i c a t e d that the r e l a t i o n s h i p between achievement i n high school and col lege subject areas was low, t h e r e f o r e , background i n the \" e s s e n t i a l \" subjects i n high school d i d not seem a v a l i d p r e r e q u i s i t e f o r success i n s i m i l a r c o l l e g e s u b j e c t s . Sub-hypothesis 2: There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e between c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA's of those students who took z e r o , one to two, three to f o u r , or f i v e or more courses i n that c l u s t e r i n high s c h o o l . The v a r i a b l e \"number of high school c o u r s e s \" , when not f o r c e d , was se lec ted in two of the f i v e regression equations . It was the l a s t p r e d i c t o r se lec ted f o r Humanities, c o n t r i b u t i n g 1/1000% to the variance of c o l l e g e Humanities GPA. This v a r i a b l e contr ibuted an equal ly small amount when i t was chosen second from l a s t i n the Science c l u s t e r . It seems qui te c l e a r that success i n c o l l e g e c l u s t e r s bore l i t t l e , i f any, r e l a t i o n s h i p to the number o f courses taken by a student i n s i m i l a r high school c l u s t e r s . A g a i n , the Academic Board's concern over adequate preparat ion i n the t r a d i t i o n a l curr iculum of the \" e s s e n t i a l \" d i s c i p l i n e s was not supported by the r e s u l t s of t h i s i n v e s t i g a t i o n . Var iables showing s i g n i f i c a n t (* p<.05) r e l a t i o n s h i p s with c o l l e g e GPA i n e a r l i e r s t a t i s t i c a l tes ts were included as p r e d i c t o r s i n the regression analyses . These v a r i a b l e s were \"high school c l u s t e r GPA\", 74 \"enrolment s ta tus\" at c o l l e g e , c o l l e g e \"entry age\" , \"sex\" , \"high school l e a v i n g date\" , \"high school graduation\" and \"number of courses taken i n the c l u s t e r i n high s c h o o l \" . G e n e r a l l y , \"high school c l u s t e r GPA\" contr ibuted from 6 to 12% of the variance i n c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA (R column i n Table XI ) . When from one to f i v e other v a r i a b l e s were i n c l u d e d , t h i s percentage only increased by 3 to 9% due to i n t e r -c o r r e l a t i o n s among the v a r i a b l e s . The values o f the s i g n i f i c a n t (** p<.01) m u l t i p l e c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t s (R's) were as f o l l o w s : Business ( .31) , E n g l i s h / Communications ( .41) , Humanities ( .44) , Science (.46) and Soc ia l Science ( .36) . The standard errors ranged from .95 to 1.15, i n d i c a t i n g that co l lege c l u s t e r GPA's predic ted on a 0.0 - 4.0 grading scale could be \"out\" by 1.95 to + 1.15. This range i s qui te a b i t on a f o u r - p o i n t grading s c a l e . Resul t ing R's when High School GPA was Included as a . P r e d i c t o r i n the Final M u l t i p l e Regression A n a l y s i s Upon examining the Pearson's product-moment c o r r e l a t i o n s between high school GPA and c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA (Table X I I I ) , a l l r ' s but two were higher than the c o r r e l a t i o n s between \"high school c l u s t e r GPA\" and c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA. This increase i n d i c a t e d that \"high school GPA\" was a bet ter p r e d i c t o r o f success i n most c o l l e g e subject areas than was \"high school c l u s t e r GPA\". An i n t e r e s t i n g change r e s u l t e d from the i n c l u s i o n of \"high school GPA\" as a p r e d i c t o r : the r i n E n g l i s h / Communications dropped from .32*/10% to .25*/6%. This suggests that students planning on taking c o l l e g e courses i n t h i s subject area would be wiser to use t h e i r high school achievement i n the Engl ish c l u s t e r 75 instead of t h e i r high school GPA as a y a r d s t i c k f o r future success i n English/Communications. As was expected, when the regressions were performed, the values of the R's increased , except f o r E n g l i s h . The new s i g n i f i c a n t (**) R's were: Business ( .48) , Humanities ( .46) , Recreation ( .42) , Science (.49) and S o c i a l Science ( .47) . The m u l t i p l e c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t f o r the Recreation c l u s t e r had not been s i g n i f i c a n t i n the f i r s t and second r e g r e s s i o n s . \"High school GPA\" was se lec ted f i r s t i n a l l equations except English/Communications. This v a r i a b l e accounted f o r 10 to 18% of the variance i n c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA. When from one to s i x other p r e d i c -tors were i n c l u d e d , the percentage increased by 3 to 7%. These f i g -ures were s i m i l a r to those c a l c u l a t e d f o r the f i r s t two r e g r e s s i o n s . The standard errors decreased s l i g h t l y i n t h i s r e g r e s s i o n , ranging from .94 to 1.08, but s t i l l diminished the u t i l i t y o f the p r e d i c t i o n equations . The increases in the p r e d i c t a b i l i t y of c o l l e g e GPA's i n the Business (+14%) and Soc ia l Science (+ 9%) c l u s t e r s , and the newly s i g n i f i c a n t R of the Recreation c l u s t e r must have been a r e s u l t o f \"high school GPA\" representing other v a r i a b l e s which r e -l a t e d s i g n i f i c a n t l y to achievement i n those c u r r i c u l a r areas . Per-haps by using \"high school GPA\", the a d d i t i o n of experiences in other high school courses provided an \" a l l - r o u n d \" measure of student a b i l i t y and achievement. The lack of change i n the English/Communications R was due to the f a c t that \"high school E n g l i s h GPA\" was the f i r s t p r e d i c t o r se lec ted i n the Engl ish regress ion equat ion , j u s t as i t was f i r s t i n 76 the e a r l i e r regression runs . \"High school GPA\" was the l a s t v a r i a b l e chosen i n t h i s c l u s t e r , c o n t r i b u t i n g v i r t u a l l y nothing to the variance of c o l l e g e Engl ish GPA. \"High school GPA\" was more h i g h l y c o r r e l a t e d with a l l c o l l e g e c l u s t e r G P A ' s , except English/Communications, than was \"high school c l u s t e r GPA\". Academic achievement i n c o l l e g e was, t h e r e f o r e , more r e l a t e d to a s tudent 's t o t a l a b i l i t y , as demonstrated by \"high school GPA\", than i t was to success i n p a r t i c u l a r s u b j e c t s . Summary In t h i s i n v e s t i g a t i o n , a l l hypotheses except the l a s t two sub-hypotheses were supported by the data analyses . Although the r e s u l t s were s i g n i f i c a n t , f o r the most p a r t , the actual d i f f e r e n c e s i n GPA's were s m a l l , r e l a t i v e to the standard d e v i a t i o n s . S i m i l a r l y , the s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t s were general ly low and t h e i r standard errors were r e l a t i v e l y l a r g e , f o r the R ' s . The v a r i a b l e s \"sex\" , co l lege \"entry age\" and c o l l e g e \"enrolment s ta tus\" were s i g n i f i c a n t l y r e l a t e d to academic achievement i n c o l l e g e . Women did bet ter than men--a d i f f e r e n c e that diminished with increased c o l l e g e \"entry age\". Part - t ime students earned lower GPA's , e s p e c i a l l y i f they were young adul t e n t r i e s or males. The low r e l a t i o n s h i p between high school record- -GPA, grades i n s u b j e c t / c l u s t e r areas , completion of graduation requirements, number of subjects taken i n high school c l u s t e r s - - a n d c o l l e g e success a lso diminished with increased \"time o f f \" between high school and c o l l e g e . The student who entered c o l l e g e as a mature adul t appeared to be motivated d i f f e r e n t l y . He probably had c l a r i f i e d his educational and 77 career goals and brought his \" l i f e experiences\" with him. Students who l e f t high school before the September 1972 changes i n graduation requirements d i d bet ter i n c o l l e g e than the post-1972 group although t h e i r high school GPA's had been lower. E i t h e r t h e i r c u r r i c u l a r background, and/or high school academic standards provided them with an academic advantage during t h e i r time at c o l l e g e . There was a d i s t i n c t p o s s i b i l i t y that academic grade i n f l a t i o n had occurred at New Westminster Secondary S c h o o l . College GPA's of post-1972 high school leavers were much more p r e d i c t a b l e than those of the pre-1972 s tudents . These r e s u l t s were a t t r i b u t e d to the fac t that s ince September 1972, students had been able to s e l e c t t h e i r high school programs almost t o t a l l y by c h o i c e , instead of by requirement. The researcher suggested that c o l l e g e programs, on the whole, were a lso chosen by i n t e r e s t s , a b i l i t i e s and needs; t h e r e f o r e , higher c o r r e l a t i o n s r e s u l t e d . Regressions were run on only s i x of the ten c l u s t e r s due to inadequate sample s i z e s : Business , English/Communications, Humanities , Recreat ion, Science and S o c i a l S c i e n c e . Although s i g n i f i c a n t m u l t i p l e c o r r e l a t i o n s r e s u l t e d , the a b i l i t y of the v a r i a b l e s used i n these regression equations to p r e d i c t grades i n c o l l e g e c l u s t e r s was low. The v a r i a b l e s were: high school GPA, high school c l u s t e r GPA, number of courses taken i n high school c l u s t e r , c o l l e g e entry age, sex, c o l l e g e enrolment s t a t u s , high school graduation and high school l e a v i n g date. Other v a r i a b l e s such as i n t e l l i g e n c e , \"environmental press\" i n c l u d i n g p e r s o n a l i t y c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s and psychological demands, m o t i v a t i o n , socio-economic and employment s t a t u s , \" g r a d e - g e t t i n g \" s k i l l s , e t c . were accounting f o r 76 to 87% of the v a r i a t i o n i n c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA's . 78 Success i n c o l l e g e c l u s t e r s bore l i t t l e , i f any, r e l a t i o n s h i p the number of courses taken i n corresponding high school c l u s t e r s . 79 CHAPTER VII CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR ADDITIONAL RESEARCH Conclusions This study i n v e s t i g a t e d how the academic achievement and c u r r i c u l a of Grade 11 and 12 students at New Westminster high schools (NWSS), and other f a c t o r s , were r e l a t e d to subsequent achievement at Douglas College (DC)- -a community c o l l e g e . Academic achievement at the high school and c o l l e g e l e v e l s was r e l a t e d ; several v a r i a b l e s helped to expla in the extent of t h i s r e l a t i o n s h i p . Although the d i f f e r e n c e s between the grade point averages (GPA's) of various groups tested were s i g n i f i c a n t , they often were small r e l a t i v e to the standard devia t ions (average S . D . = .89) . S i m i l a r l y , the Pearson's product-moment and m u l t i p l e c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t s were low ( .50) with r e l a t i v e l y large standard errors f o r the l a t t e r s t a t i s t i c s . Sex, Entry Age and Enrolment Status Women d i d bet ter than men academical ly , although t h i s advantage diminished with increased c o l l e g e entry age. Part - t ime enrolments had slowly been i n c r e a s i n g over the past s i x years at DC and i n 1977 they c o n s t i t u t e d 60% of the student body. This i n v e s t i g a t i o n concluded that par t - t ime students d i d not do as well as those r e g i s t e r e d f u l l - t i m e , e s p e c i a l l y i f they were young and/or male. The GPA's of mature students and females var ied s l i g h t l y with enrolment s t a t u s . 80 Hypothesis I The data analyses f o r the s i x sub-hypotheses supported the hypothesis that there was a s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n between cumulative GPA's i n high school and c o l l e g e . There was a \"maturity f a c t o r \" which played a s i g n i f i c a n t r o l e i n the academic success of c o l l e g e s tudents . Students who were 25 years o l d or more when they f i r s t entered DC c o n s i s t e n t l y d i d much bet ter than younger e n t r i e s . Even students who \"stopped out\" of education f o r two years a f t e r leaving high school d i d bet ter than those who i n i t i a l l y continued r i g h t through to c o l l e g e . The f a c t that a mature student had not completed high school graduation requirements made l i t t l e d i f f e r e n c e to l a t e r c o l l e g e success . This was not the case f o r young e n t r i e s who had been high school dropouts . These r e s u l t s gave support to the \"open door\" p o l i c y of Douglas College with i t s p r o v i s i o n of a second chance at an educat ion. This study addressed the question o f d i v e r g i n g high school academic standards by i n v e s t i g a t i n g the cumulative academic achievement of c o l l e g e students who l e f t high school before and a f t e r the September 1972 changes i n B r i t i s h Columbia ( B . C . ) high school graduation r e q u i r e -ments. These changes involved the removal of compulsory province-wide Grade 12 examinations, the i n t r o d u c t i o n of more l i b e r a l course s e l e c t i o n requirements and the promotion o f c u r r i c u l a developed at the d i s t r i c t l e v e l instead of the p r o v i n c i a l l e v e l . Students who took the more s t ruc tured programs before the changes d i d s l i g h t l y bet ter i n c o l l e g e than the post-1972 students who had more freedom of course s e l e c t i o n and the opportunity of taking two l o c a l l y developed courses as part o f t h e i r graduation requirements. 81 Therefore , the pre-1972 group had higher co l lege grades despi te the fac t that t h e i r high school GPA's had been lower than the post-1972 s t u d e n t s ' . The researcher a t t r i b u t e d the academic advantage of the pre-1972 leavers to v a r i a b l e s i n t h e i r high school background, such as required basic preparation i n \" e s s e n t i a l \" c u r r i c u l a ( E n g l i s h , mathematics, s c i e n c e , s o c i a l science and p o s s i b l y languages) and/or a more \" r i g o r o u s \" high school experience with higher academic s t a n -dards . The r e s u l t s of s t a t i s t i c a l tests d i d point to the p o s s i b i l i t y of lowered or relaxed grading standards at NWSS s ince the 1972 changes. Almost a l l of the students i n t h i s sample had attended only one high school--New Westminster Secondary S c h o o l . The.post-1972 students i n t h i s i n v e s t i g a t i o n had been experiencing academic grade i n f l a t i o n i n Grades 11 and 12 at that s c h o o l . I f community co l lege students are representat ive of high school graduates (Dennison, et a l . , 1975) and NWSS students are representat ive of community c o l l e g e s tudents , then academic standards had d e c l i n e d at New Westminster Secondary School . Another i n t e r e s t i n g f i n d i n g was revealed when the low c o r r e l a t i o n s between cumulative high school and c o l l e g e GPA's were s t r a t i f i e d by high school l e a v i n g date (pre- or post-1972). The GPA's were more h i g h l y r e l a t e d f o r students who l e f t high school a f t e r 1972. The r e s u l t i n g c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t s of t h i s post-1972 group, were a lso more comparable to those reported i n the reviewed l i t e r a t u r e , although they were s t i l l lower. This was most l i k e l y due to the f a c t that the studies reviewed i n the l i t e r a t u r e involved e i t h e r high a b i l i t y or u n i v e r s i t y students and used an academic high school GPA. This 82 i n v e s t i g a t i o n involved only community c o l l e g e students and used a to ta l high school GPA. The c o r r e l a t i o n s showed that high school grades of NWSS students had become more r e l i a b l e as p r e d i c t o r s o f c o l l e g e achievement s ince the 1972 changes, e s p e c i a l l y f o r f u l l - t i m e students . The r e s u l t s were a t t r i b u t e d to the f a c t that a f t e r 1972, students could s e l e c t t h e i r high school courses of study p r i m a r i l y by i n t e r e s t , a b i l i t y and need instead of by r e s t r i c t i o n s and requirements. Presumably, c o l l e g e programs were se lec ted p r i m a r i l y on the former bases. Hypothesis II There i s a s i g n i f i c a n t c o r r e l a t i o n between academic achievement in s i m i l a r c l u s t e r s of courses taken at high school (NWSS) and c o l l e g e (DC). The data analyses gave p a r t i a l support to the hypothesis . Academic achievement in c o l l e g e c l u s t e r s was not r e l a t e d to any great extent to e i t h e r the grades received or number of courses taken i n corresponding high school c l u s t e r s . The year of leaving high school also made l i t t l e d i f f e r e n c e to the p r e d i c t i v e a b i l i t y o f high school grades. T h e r e f o r e , the suggestion that c o l l e g e entrance examinations be introduced to ensure that enter ing students have met minimum s t a n -dards i n \"core\" or \" e s s e n t i a l \" c u r r i c u l a was not supported. When \"cumulative high school GPA\" was compared to academic achieve-ment i n c o l l e g e c l u s t e r s , a l l r e s u l t i n g c o r r e l a t i o n s except Engl ish (p<.05) and I n d u s t r i a l A r t s (p=non-signif icant ) were higher than those c o r r e l a t i o n s c a l c u l a t e d using \"high school c l u s t e r G P A ' s \" . These f i n d i n g s suggested that academic achievement i n c o l l e g e was more c l o s e l y r e l a t e d to a s tudent 's t o t a l a b i l i t y , as demonstrated by high school GPA, than i t was to success i n corresponding high school c l u s t e r s . The 83 exception was the high school Engl ish cluster—encompassing communi-c a t i o n s , c r e a t i v e and exposi tory w r i t i n g , E n g l i s h ( i n c l u d i n g grammar) and journal ism—which provided a more accurate measure of co l lege English/Communications achievement. Put more s i m p l y , except f o r E n g l i s h , i t d i d not r e a l l y matter how well a student d i d i n p a r t i c u -l a r subject areas i n high s c h o o l ; ra ther , o v e r a l l academic achievement in high school was a bet ter p r e d i c t o r of c o l l e g e success . High school academic record and other v a r i a b l e s used i n the regression equations only accounted f o r 17 to 24% of the v a r i a t i o n i n co l lege G P A ' s . o f these c l u s t e r s : Business , English/Communications, Humanities, Recreat ion , Science and Soc ia l Sc ience . The low values of the s i x s i g n i f i c a n t m u l t i p l e c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t s ( R ' s ) , the large standard e r r o r s , and the number of p r e d i c t o r s used to a r r i v e at the R's were considered when determining the usefulness of the r e s u l t i n g equations . Weighing the above fac tors and the time and e f f o r t involved i n c o l l e c t i n g and c a l c u l a t i n g the data from high school and c o l l e g e t r a n s c r i p t s , the procedures used i n t h i s i n v e s t i g a t i o n provided nei ther meaningful nor useful data f o r p r e d i c t i n g grades i n c o l l e g e c l u s t e r s . Using the regression equations to b u i l d expectancy tables based on records of previous c o l l e g e students would not provide meaningful material f o r educational decision-making of p o t e n t i a l c o l l e g e s tudents , t h e i r parents and f r i e n d s , or c o u n s e l l o r s . Implicat ions Educators involved with secondary s c h o o l s , as a r e s u l t o f the B . C . Department of Educat ion 's impetus, are already addressing the question of d i v e r g i n g high school standards and c u r r i c u l a . The steps 84 the Department has taken—implementation of province-wide core c u r -r i c u l a and p r o v i n c i a l assessment o f basel ine l e v e l s of knowledge i n subjects (PLAP—Provincial Learning Assessment Program)--were not grounded i n an extensive research program. Rather, the Department assumed the r e s u l t s from studies on d i v e r g i n g high school standards and c u r r i c u l a in the United States were i n d i c a t i v e of s i m i l a r patterns in B . C . This i n v e s t i g a t i o n supported the f i r s t part o f t h e i r assumption, but provided i n c o n c l u s i v e evidence about d i v e r g i n g high school c u r r i c u l a . S p e c i f i c a l l y , academic standards at New Westminster Secondary School appeared to be d e c l i n i n g . Students who recent ly attended t h i s high school d i d not do as well at DC as those who l e f t high school before the 1972 changes i n graduation requirements, even though t h e i r mean high school GPA had been higher than the pre-4972 group. The r e l a t i o n s h i p of high school grades and experience i n \"essen-t i a l \" c u r r i c u l a r areas to s i m i l a r c o l l e g e achievement was weak. Cumulative high school GPA was a bet ter p r e d i c t o r of academic success i n c o l l e g e c l u s t e r s than were high school grades i n those c l u s t e r s (except E n g l i s h ) , regardless o f high school l e a v i n g date . These fac tors i n d i c a t e d that a s tudent ' s o v e r a l l academic achievement at high school gave a bet ter i n d i c a t i o n of future academic success i n a l l subject areas except E n g l i s h . Consequently, t h i s researcher would not support e i t h e r the r e i n t r o d u c t i o n of province-wide Grade 12 examina-t ions or the i n t r o d u c t i o n of c o l l e g e entrance examinations i f t h e i r sole purpose was to e s t a b l i s h basel ine requirements i n the \" e s s e n t i a l \" c u r r i c u l a r areas : E n g l i s h , mathematics, s c i e n c e s , s o c i a l sciences and 85 second languages. Granted, students who l e f t high school before the 1972 changes i n graduation requirements had an o v e r a l l academic advantage at c o l l e g e , . but the reasons f o r t h i s advantage are open to c o n j e c t u r e . I f i t was t h e i r more academically rigorous high school experience and broad foundation of \" e s s e n t i a l \" c u r r i c u l a r experience that provided the advantage, there are i m p l i c a t i o n s f o r the present system o f secondary school education i n B . C . Such i m p l i c a t i o n s would support the present \"back to b a s i c s \" movement and the return to a more \" r i g o r o u s \" academic approach to a l l c u r r i c u l a i n high s c h o o l . These d i r e c t i o n s would b e n e f i t i n d i v i d u a l s who eventual ly go on to c o l l e g e , but may provide no future advantage to the majori ty of high school students who never go on to post-secondary educat ion. The remaining i m p l i c a t i o n s contain useful information f o r s tudents , t h e i r parents and f r i e n d s , and counsel lors who are making educational d e c i s i o n s . High school GPA's are more r e l i a b l e predic tors of c o l l e g e academic achievement now than they were before the l i b e r a l i z a t i o n of high school graduation requirements. Consequently, there i s less need than ever to introduce entrance examinations at the c o l l e g e . A l s o , i n d i v i d u a l s who have been away from high s c h o o l , even f o r as few as two y e a r s , do s i g n i f i c a n t l y be t te r once at c o l l e g e , whether they have a high school diploma or not . The above r e s u l t s gave support to the \"open door\" p o l i c y of the community c o l l e g e , a p o l i c y that provides young and mature adults with e a s i e r access to a post-secondary educa-t i o n regardless of t h e i r academic background. 86 Cumulative high school GPA predic ted c o l l e g e achievement i n a l l subject areas (except Engl ish) bet ter than corresponding high school c l u s t e r GPA's d i d . However, high school academic v a r i a b l e s , on t h e i r own, were weak predic tors of c o l l e g e achievement. Therefore , i f high school records are used when c o u n s e l l i n g students on educational c h o i c e s , then o v e r a l l high school achievement provides a more accurate gauge of future success , unless the subject area i s English/Communi-cat ions . There i s a high percentage of part - t ime enrolments at DC. G e n e r a l l y , these students did not do as well as t h e i r f u l l - t i m e counterparts , e s p e c i a l l y i f they were young and/or male. Since par -t i c u l a r concern f o r part - t ime students i s one o f the mandates of community c o l l e g e s , h o p e f u l l y explanations f o r these f i n d i n g s are being explored by the c o l l e g e . L i m i t a t i o n s to the Conclusions There are c e r t a i n aspects of t h i s research which must be con-s idered before accepting the Conclusions and I m p l i c a t i o n s . The i n v e s t i g a t i o n was concerned only with students who attended a l l or part o f Grades 11 and 12 at New Westminster high schools and subsequently completed course work at Douglas College between September 1970 and J u l y 1977. Furthermore, almost one-quarter of the p o t e n t i a l sample was not included i n the study because they had not given the c o l l e g e a t r a n -s c r i p t of t h e i r high school record . Thus, the sample was not randomly selec ted i n any way. Conclusions must be r e s t r i c t e d to those students who had New Westminster high school t r a n s c r i p t s on f i l e at DC. 87 Nevertheless , g e n e r a l i z a t i o n s may be made to al1 NWSS students who l a t e r attend DC on the grounds that c o l l e g e students tend to be representat ive of high school graduates and that NWSS students and graduates are t y p i c a l community c o l l e g e s tudents . However, i t would be i n v a l i d to t r y to extrapolate from these f i n d i n g s with any c o n f i -dence to high schools i n other school d i s t r i c t s , other co l leges or provinces where teaching procedures and l e a r n i n g condi t ions may d i f f e r . There are many v a r i a b l e s r e l a t e d to academic performance which were ne i ther inc luded nor c o n t r o l l e d i n t h i s ex post fac to research. Some o f these i d e n t i f i a b l e v a r i a b l e s a r e : i n t e l l i g e n c e ; m o t i v a t i o n ; c u r r i c u l a r demands; \"environmental p r e s s \" , which includes p e r s o n a l i t y c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s and psychological demands; employment s t a t u s ; s o c i o -economic s t a t u s ; and \" g r a d e - g e t t i n g \" s k i l l s . These and other fac tors accounted f o r at l e a s t 75% of the variance of grades earned i n c o l l e g e c l u s t e r s / s u b j e c t areas . M u l t i p l e regression could not be performed on four c l u s t e r s due to inadequate sample s i z e : A r t (v isual and performing) , E a r l y Childhood Educat ion, Fashion and I n t e r i o r Design, and I n d u s t r i a l A r t s . These c l u s t e r s represent subject areas commonly r e f e r r e d to as \" e l e c t i v e s \" . It was unfortunate that only one \" e l e c t i v e s \" c l u s t e r , Business , met the requirements f o r regression a n a l y s i s . None of the m u l t i p l e c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t s proved to be of h i g h , or even moderate, value i n p r e d i c t i n g achievement in c o l l e g e c l u s t e r s . Nevertheless , i t would have been valuable to see i f \" e l e c t i v e s \" grades predic ted c o l l e g e achievement as well as \"academic\" high school grades. 88 Suggestions f o r Further Research A Question Remaining Unanswered Due to small c l u s t e r s i z e s , r e l a t i o n s h i p s between c o l l e g e and high school achievement i n most of the \" e l e c t i v e s \" areas could not be ex-plored adequately. I f the number of students taking A r t , E a r l y Childhood Educat ion, Fashion and I n t e r i o r Design, and I n d u s t r i a l Arts had been l a r g e r , the p r e d i c t i v e a b i l i t y of these subject areas could be meaningfully compared to that of \"academic\" subject areas . Explanations Requiring T e s t i n g by Further Research 1. Pre-September 1972 high school leavers earned higher grades i n co l lege than post-1972 students who s tar ted out with higher secondary school GPA's . The suggested reasons f o r these r e s u l t s were e i t h e r t h e i r broad range of \" e s s e n t i a l \" c u r r i c u l a r background and/or higher academic standards i n secondary school before l i b e r a l i z e d graduation requirements. Further t e s t i n g would need to be c a r r i e d out i n order to confirm these explanat ions . It would be worthwhile to compare pre -and post-1972 groups according to various l e v e l s of high school GPA's to see i f the r e l a t i o n s h i p s remain s table f o r high and low a c h i e v e r s . 2.... .Mature adul t e n t r i e s d i d bet ter i n c o l l e g e than young a d u l t s , i r r e s p e c t i v e of high school graduation, enrolment s t a t u s , high school leaving date or sex. The \"maturity f a c t o r \" was given as the explana-t i o n , a f a c t o r encompassing m o t i v a t i o n , c l a r i f i e d educational and career goals and l i f e experiences . Data would need to be c o l l e c t e d from students on entry into c o l l e g e regarding these elements to be able to determine s i m i l a r i t i e s and d i f f e r e n c e s between young and 89 mature e n t r i e s . 3. Cumulative high school GPA's of students who l e f t secondary school a f t e r September 1972 were more h i g h l y c o r r e l a t e d with t h e i r subsequent c o l l e g e GPA's than were those of pre-1972 high school l e a v e r s . This increase was p a r t i c u l a r l y large f o r f u l l - t i m e students . The explanation f o r the large c o r r e l a t i o n s of the post-1972 group was that l i b e r a l graduation requirements gave them the oppor-t u n i t y of spending up to 75% of t h e i r Grade 11 and 12 years i n courses complementary with t h e i r i n t e r e s t s , a b i l i t i e s and needs; presumably, c o l l e g e courses were chosen on the same b a s i s . Information c o l l e c t e d from students as to the reasons f o r t h e i r course s e l e c t i o n s throughout c o l l e g e and high school would be necessary data to have f o r e x p l o r i n g the above e x p l a n a t i o n . Questions Formulated as a Result o f This Inves t igat ion 1. Part - t ime c o l l e g e students d i d not do as well as f u l l - t i m e students i f they were young adult e n t r i e s and/or male. The explanations f o r the f i n d i n g s were open to conjecture because t h i s v a r i a b l e had not been reviewed i n the l i t e r a t u r e . Since attending to the part - t ime student and his needs i s a mandate of the c o l l e g e , t h i s researcher would be i n t e r e s t e d i n i n v e s t i g a t i n g how the co l lege deals with t h i s mandate and what conclusions previous s tudies have reached. The question r a i s e d by the f i n d i n g i s : What r e l a t i o n s h i p s e x i s t among off-campus a c t i v i t i e s , \"environmental press\" and enrolment status as f a r as success i n c o l l e g e i s concerned? Douglas College had campuses i n f i v e of i t s supporting school d i s t r i c t s : New Westminster, Surrey , Richmond,Maple Ridge-and Coquitlam. 90 Students attended one or more of these campuses, depending upon t h e i r programs. T h e r e f o r e , i t was u n l i k e l y that DC exerted ajn \"environmental press\" on s tudents ; ra ther , each campus \"press\" probably played a d i f f e r e n t r o l e i n the academic achievement of i t s respect ive s tudents , although a central adminis t ra t ion oversees a l l campuses. The impact of i n s t i t u t i o n a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s could not be discussed i n r e l a t i o n to a s p e c i f i c campus, f o r example, s i z e of campus, f a c u l t y , other students at tending and classroom and l i b r a r y f a c i l i t i e s . 2. Academic achievement and number of courses taken i n c l u s t e r s i n high school bore l i t t l e r e l a t i o n s h i p to c o l l e g e achievement i n s i m i l a r c l u s t e r s . Cumulative high school GPA showed higher c o r r e l a -t ions with grades i n a l l c o l l e g e c l u s t e r s except English/Communications and I n d u s t r i a l A r t s . The conclusion most e a s i l y drawn from t h i s f i n d i n g was that i t d i d not r e a l l y matter how well a student d i d i n s p e c i f i c high school subject areas because o v e r a l l high school academic achieve-ment provided a bet ter i n d i c a t i o n of future c o l l e g e success . The question a r i s i n g from these r e s u l t s i s : Do high school students with s i m i l a r high school GPA's do equal ly well i n a given c o l l e g e program i r r e s p e c t i v e of the s p e c i f i c grades received and type of subjects taken i n high school? 3 . Sex, c o l l e g e entry age, enrolment s t a t u s , high school l e a v i n g date and high school academic v a r i a b l e s of New Westminster students were r e l a t e d to co l lege success i n varying degrees. How representat ive are the students i n t h i s study to high school students throughout the province? Do the above v a r i a b l e s show s i m i l a r r e l a t i o n s h i p s with academic achievement f o r students i n other co l leges? 91 4 . The v a r i a b l e high school GPA was added to the p r e d i c t o r s f o r the f i n a l regression a n a l y s i s on the c l u s t e r s . In a l l cases except E n g l i s h , high school GPA was a stronger p r e d i c t o r of co l lege c l u s t e r GPA than were respect ive high school c l u s t e r GPA's . The increase i n the R's of the Business and Socia l Sciences c l u s t e r s was much l a r g e r than the increases f o r other c l u s t e r s . The Recreation c l u s t e r produced a s i g n i f i c a n t R f o r the f i r s t t ime. Several questions emerged from these r e s u l t s : Why was E n g l i s h GPA a more accurate p r e d i c t o r of subsequent Engl ish achievement? Was i t something to do with the procedure used to compute high school Engl ish c l u s t e r GPA's or the subjects included i n the c l u s t e r ? What v a r i a b l e s does high school GPA represent which correspond to achievement i n the seemingly unrelated subject areas of Business , Recreation and Soc ia l Science? Methodology There are aspects of sample s e l e c t i o n procedures used i n t h i s study which l i m i t f u l l understanding o f the data and i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f the r e s u l t s . The f a c t that the sample was i n no way randomly s e l e c t e d made i t unwise to extrapolate conclusions even to c o l l e g e students who d i d not have t h e i r New Westminster high school t r a n s c r i p t s on f i l e . In a d d i t i o n , the small sample s i z e d i d not allow the meaningful i n v e s t i g a t i o n of r e l a t i o n s h i p s concerning \" e l e c t i v e s \" c l u s t e r s . Consequently, a l a r g e r sample would be recommended should a s i m i l a r study be conducted. It seems that the value of using a sample of students who a l l , e s s e n t i a l l y , graduated from the same high s c h o o l , was counterbalanced by the small n ' s . Bes ides , i t i s u n l i k e l y that another school d i s t r i c t i n B . C . could be found that has only one 92 high s c h o o l , l a r g e r i n s i z e than New Westminster Secondary S c h o o l . The use of more than one high school would introduce complicat ions due to socio-economic status and other v a r i a b l e s . Summary This study inves t iga ted the r e l a t i o n s h i p of academic achievement and c u r r i c u l a i n Grades 11 and 12 i n high s c h o o l , and other f a c t o r s , to subsequent achievement at a community c o l l e g e . B r i t i s h Columbia high school graduation requirements were changed i n September 1972 which r e s u l t e d i n the removal o f compulsory province-wide Grade 12 examinations, the i n t r o d u c t i o n of more l i b e r a l course s e l e c t i o n requirements and the promotion of l o c a l l y developed c u r r i c u l a . S h o r t l y af terwards , p u b l i c concern was expressed that academic and c u r r i c u l a r standards were d i v e r g i n g i n the high schools and that grades earned there were no longer r e l i a b l e p r e d i c t o r s of future academic achievement. In a d d i t i o n , there was a concern that a high school edu-cat ion was not preparing students i n c e r t a i n areas of the t r a d i t i o n a l curr iculum of the \" e s s e n t i a l \" d i s c i p l i n e s : E n g l i s h , mathematics, s c iences , s o c i a l sciences and second languages. The \"open door\" p o l i c y o f community c o l l e g e s , u n l i k e u n i v e r s i t y admission requirements, provides i n d i v i d u a l s with e a s i e r access to post-secondary educat ion , regardless of academic r e c o r d . Almost h a l f of c o l l e g e students d i d not s e l e c t t h e i r high school courses with the i n t e n t of cont inuing t h e i r education and a large percentage never graduated from high s c h o o l . The researcher a n t i c i p a t e d that the f i n d i n g s of t h i s study could be used to develop a p r e d i c t i v e i n s t r u -ment which p r i m a r i l y used information from high school t r a n s c r i p t s . 93 Expectancy tables would provide useful material f o r the educational decision-making of co l lege s tudents , t h e i r parents and f r i e n d s . The f i r s t major hypothesis explored the c o r r e l a t i o n between high school and c o l l e g e GPA's . This r e l a t i o n s h i p was s tudied by grouping the data according to various f a c t o r s : c o l l e g e entry age, number of years between high school and c o l l e g e , high school l e a v i n g date (pre-or post-September 1972) or completion of high school graduation r e -quirements. The other major hypothesis involved the c o r r e l a t i o n be-tween high school and c o l l e g e achievement i n s i m i l a r c l u s t e r s of courses . A l l courses o f f e r e d at the c o l l e g e and high school were a l l o t e d to one of ten c l u s t e r s according to basic subject a r e a — A r t , Business , E a r l y Childhood Educat ion, English/Communications, Fashion and I n t e r i o r Design, Humanities, I n d u s t r i a l A r t s , Recreat ion , Science or Soc ia l Sc ience . Changes i n c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA's were i n v e s t i g a t e d according to the number of courses a student had taken i n corresponding high school c l u s t e r s . The v a r i a b l e s sex, co l lege entry age and c o l l e g e enrolment status were considered f o r a l l hypotheses t e s t e d . The sample of 643 subjects included students who attended a l l or part of Grades 11 and 12 at New Westminster secondary schools (NWSS) and subsequently completed course work at Douglas Col lege (DC) between September 1970 and J u l y 1977. T - t e s t s , product-moment c o r r e l a t i o n s and m u l t i p l e regression analyses were the s t a t i s t i c a l procedures used. Although the d i f f e r e n c e s between the GPA's of various groups tested were s i g n i f i c a n t , they of ten were small r e l a t i v e to the standard d e v i a -t i o n s . S i m i l a r l y , c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t s were low with r e l a t i v e l y large standard errors f o r the m u l t i p l e c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t s ( R ' s ) . Women d i d bet ter than men at c o l l e g e , an advantage that diminished 94 with increased c o l l e g e entry age. Part - t ime students d i d not do as well as t h e i r f u l l - t i m e counterpar ts , e s p e c i a l l y i f they were young and/or male. Since p a r t i c u l a r concern f o r par t - t ime enrolments i s a mandate of the community c o l l e g e , h o p e f u l l y explanations f o r these f i n d i n g s are already being explored. There was a p o s i t i v e c o r r e l a t i o n between GPA's i n high school and c o l l e g e . A \"maturity f a c t o r \" played a s i g n i f i c a n t r o l e i n the academic achievement of c o l l e g e students . Mature e n t r i e s and those who took at l e a s t two years \" o f f \" a f t e r high school earned higher grades. Lack of a high school diploma made l i t t l e d i f f e r e n c e to the c o l l e g e success of mature e n t r i e s , which was not the case f o r young e n t r i e s . These r e s u l t s gave support to t h e , c o l l e g e \"open door\" admissions p o l i c y . Further research was recommended on the components of the \"maturi ty\" (entry age) v a r i a b l e and the r e l a t i o n s h i p between i t and academic,success. Students who attended high school before the 1972 changes i n graduation requirements d i d s l i g h t l y bet ter i n c o l l e g e , despi te the fac t that t h e i r high school GPA's had been lower. The f i n d i n g s were a t t r i b u t e d to v a r i a b l e s i n t h e i r high school background such as r e -quired basic preparation i n \" e s s e n t i a l \" c u r r i c u l a and/or a more \" r i g o r o u s \" high school experience with higher academic standards. Results of s t a t i s t i c a l tests pointed to a recent d e c l i n e i n academic standards at New Westminster Secondary School . C o r r e l a t i o n s between high school and c o l l e g e GPA's were s l i g h t l y higher f o r post-September 1972 high school l e a v e r s . This was a t t r i b u t e d to the f a c t that t h i s group of students had been able to s e l e c t t h e i r high school program of s tudies mainly by i n t e r e s t , 95 a b i l i t y and need instead of by the pre-1972 r e s t r i c t i o n s and r e q u i r e -ments. Presumably c o l l e g e programs were se lec ted p r i m a r i l y on the former bases. The v a r i a b l e s used i n the regression equations accounted f o r only 17 to 24% of the variance of grades i n the c o l l e g e c l u s t e r s o f Business , English/Communications, Humanities, Recreat ion , Science and Socia l Science . Regressions were not run on four c l u s t e r s due to i n s u f f i c i e n t numbers of s u b j e c t s . Academic achievement i n c o l l e g e c l u s t e r s was not r e l a t e d to any great extent to e i t h e r the grades received or the number of courses taken i n corresponding high school c l u s t e r s , f o r e i t h e r pre -or post-1972 high school l e a v e r s . 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HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS Guidel ines to Academic and Technical Programmes Academic and Technical Programme - Arts S p e c i a l t y A. General Education Constants 1. Engl ish 11 2. Engl ish 12 B. Programme Constants 3. Soc ia l Studies 11 4. Physical Health Education & Guidance 11 5. Mathematics 11 6. One o f : Biology 11, Chemistry 11, Physics 11, L i v i n g Science 11 CS, Physical Science 11 CS. One o f : French 11, German 11, L a t i n 11, Spanish 11. C. Programme S p e c i a l t i e s 8. A minimum of three courses : 9. - o f which at l e a s t two must be se lec ted from E n g l i s h L i t e r a t u r e 12, H i s t o r y 12, Geography 120 or Geography 12R, Mathematics 12, Biology 12, Chemistry 12, Physics 12, Geology 12 CS, French 12, German 12, L a t i n 12, Spanish 12. 10. - but of which not more than one may be se lec ted from any one of the f o l l o w i n g seven groups: (a) French 12, German 12, L a t i n 12, Spanish 12 * (b) H i s t o r y 12, Geography 120, o_r Geography 12R (c) Engl ish L i t e r a t u r e 12_ (d) Mathematics 12, a Science 11 (Biology 11, Chemistry 11, Physics 11, L i v i n g Science 11 CS, Physical Science 11 CS, Physical Science 11 CS) not taken i n B . 6 . , a Science 12 (Biology 12, Chemistry 12, Physics 12, Geology 12 CS) (e) A Language 11 (French 11, German 11, L a t i n 11, Spanish 11) not taken i n B . 7 . , French 12, German 12, L a t i n 12, Spanish 12, Beginners ' German 11, Beginners ' L a t i n 11, Beginners ' Russian 11, Beginners ' Spanish 11, Beginners ' I t a l i a n 11 * ( f ) H i s t o r y 12, Geography 12 0, or Geography 12 R, Economics 11, Law 11 (not taken under (b) above). (Appendix continued on next page) 103 (g) A r t 12, A p p l i e d Design 12, Drawing & P a i n t i n g 12, Commercial Design 12, Graphic Design..12, Band 12, Orchestra 12, Chorus 12, Musicianship 12, Instrumental Survey 12, Stagecraf t 12, A c t i n g 12, W r i t i n g & D i r e c t i n g 12, Visual Ar ts 12E, Visual Communication 12A(E), and 12B(E). * I f a candidate o f f e r s both Geography 12 0 and Geography 12 R, accept one Geography 12 only ( that one with the highest Final Grade) as a S p e c i a l t y course and t rea t the second as an E l e c t i v e . I I . Academic and Technical Programme - Sciences S p e c i a l t y A. General Education Constants 1. Engl ish 11 2. Engl ish 12 3. Socia l Studies 11 4. Physical Health Education & Guidance 11 B. Programme Constants 5. Mathematics 11 6. One o f : Biology 11, Chemistry 11, Physics 11, L i v i n g Science 11 CS, Physical Science 11 CS. C. Programme S p e c i a l t i e s One o f : French 11, German 11, L a t i n 11, Spanish 11\". 8. Mathematics 12 9. One o f : Biology 12, Chemistry 12, Physics 12, Geography 12 CS. 10. One o f : Biology 11, Chemistry 11, Physics 11, L i v i n g Science 11 CS, Physical Science 11 CS, Biology 12, Chemistry 12, Physics 12, Geology 12 CS, which has not been taken i n f u l f i l l i n g e i t h e r B . 6 . or C . 9 . requirements. I I I . Academic and Technical Programme - Technical (General) S p e c i a l t y A. General Education Constants 1. 2. Engl ish 11 Engl ish 12 3. Soc ia l Studies 11 4. Physical Health Education & Guidance 11 B. Programme Constants 5. Mathematics 11 (Appendix continued on next page) 104 One o f : Biology 11, Chemistry 11, Physics 11, L i f e Science 11 CS, Physical Science 11 CS One o f : French 11, German 11, L a t i n 11, Spanish 11. Accounting 12, Bookkeeping 11, Bookkeeping 12, Business Machines 12, General Mathematics 11, O f f i c e O r i e n t a t i o n 12, O f f i c e Prac t i ce 12, Shorthand 11A, Shorthand 11B, Shorthand H E , S e c r e t a r i a l Prac t i ce 12, Typing 11. Construct ion 11, Construct ion 12A, Construct ion 12B, Draughting 11, Draughting 12, E l e c t r i c i t y 11, E l e c t r i c i t y 12, E l e c t r o n i c s 12, Frame House Construct ion 1ICS, I n d u s t r i a l Power 11, I n d u s t r i a l Science 12, Mechanics 11, Mechanics 12A, Mechanics 12B, Radio & Wireless 11 CS, T e l e v i s i o n H E . A c t i n g 11, A c t i n g 12, Stagecraf t 11, Stagecraf t 12, Theatre 11, Visual Arts 11, Visual Ar ts 12, Visual Communication 12AE, Visual Communication 12BE, Wri t ing 11, W r i t i n g & D i r e c t i n g 12. C h i l d Care 12, Community Recreation 12, Foods 11, Foods 12A, Foods 12B, Home & I n d u s t r i a l Services 12, Management 11, T e x t i l e s 11, T e x t i l e s . l 2 A , . . . . T e x t i l e s 12B. Appl ied Design 11, Appl ied Design 12, A r t 11, A r t 39 CS, A r t 12, Commercial Design 11, Commercial Design 12, Drawing & P a i n t i n g 11, Drawing & Paint ing 12, Graphic Design 11, Graphic Design 12. Band 11, Band 12, Chorus 11, Chorus 12, Instrumental. Survey 11, Instrumental Survey 12, Musicianship 11, Musicianship 12, Orchestra 11, Orchestra 12. Vocational Automotive 11, Automotive 12, Carpentry 11, Carpentry 12, Draughting 11, Draughting 12, E l e c t r o n i c s 11, E l e c t r o n i c s 12, Foods 11, Foods 12, (Appendix continued on next page) 105 A g r i c u l t u r e 11, A g r i c u l t u r e 12, Farm Mechanics 11. Farm Mechanics 12, Forestry H E , Forestry 11 CS. Foundry 11(, Foundry 12, Graphics Ar ts 11, Graphic Arts 12, H a i r d r e s s i n g 11, H a i r d r e s s i n g 12, I n d u s t r i a l E l e c t r i c i t y 12, Machine Shop 11, Machine Shop 12, Sheet Metal 11, Sheet Metal 12, Small Engine Repair 11, Small Engine Repair 12, T a i l o r i n g 11, T a i l o r i n g 12. C. Programme S p e c i a l t i e s . 8. Mathematics 12 9. One o f : Biology 12, Chemistry 12, Physics 12, Geology 12 CS. Academic and Technical Programme Services) S p e c i a l t y 10. One course other than a Foreign Language 11 (French 11, German 11, L a t i n 11, Spanish 11) named under B . 7 . but not used i n f u l f i l l -ing that Programme Constant requirement. - Technical (Community A. General Education Constants 1. Engl ish 11 2. Engl ish 12 3. S o c i a l Studies 11 4. Physical Health Education & Guidance 11 B. Programme Constants 5. Mathematics 11 6. One o f : Biology 11, Chemistry 11, Physics 11, L i v i n g Science 11 CS, Physical Science 11 CS. One o f : Foods 11, T e x t i l e s 11, Management. 11. C. Programme S p e c i a l t i e s 8. Mathematics 12 9. One o f : Biology 12, Chemistry 12, Physics 12, Geology 12 CS. 10. One o f : Foods 12A, C h i l d Care 12. T e x t i l e s 12A. (Appendix continued on next page) 106 V. Academic and Technical Programme - Technical (Commercial) S p e c i a l t y A. General Education Constants 1. Engl ish 11 2. Engl ish 12 3. Soc ia l Studies 11 4. Physical Health Education & Guidance 11 B. Programme Constants 5. Mathematics 11 6. One o f : Biology 11, 7. Chemistry 11, L i v i n g Science 11 CS, Physical Science 11 CS, Physica 11. C. Programme S p e c i a l t i e s 8. Mathematics 12 9. One o f : Accounting 12, 10. S e c r e t a r i a l Prac t i ce 12. One o f : Bookkeeping: . l l , Shorthand 11B.. One o f : Economics 11, Law 11. V I . Academic and Technical Programme - Technical (Visual & Performing Arts ) S p e c i a l t y A. General Education Constants 1. 2. Engl ish 11 Engl ish 12 3. Soc ia l Studies 11 4. Physical Health Education & Guidance 11 B. Programme Constants 5. Mathematics 11 6. One o f : Biology 11, > Chemistry 11, Physics 11, L i v i n g Science 11 CS, Physical Science 11 CS, French 11, German 11, L a t i n 11, Spanish 11. C. Programme S p e c i a l t i e s One o f : A r t 11, Musicianship 11, A c t i n g 11., S tagecraf t 11, A r t 39 CS, Wri t ing 11. 8. One o f : Biology 12, Chemistry 12, Physics 12, Geology 12 CS, French 12, German 12, L a t i n 12, Spanish 12. (Appendix continued on next page) 107 9. One o f : E n g l i s h L i t e r a t u r e 12, H i s t o r y 12. 10. One o f : A r t 12, Appl ied Design 12, Drawing & P a i n t i n g 12, Commercial Design 12, Graphic Design 12, Band 12, Orchestra 12, Chorus 12, Musicianship 12, Instrumental Survey 12, A c t i n g 12, Stagecraf t 12, Wri t ing & D i r e c t i n g 12, Visual Ar ts 12, Visual Communication 12AE, Visual Communication 12BE. G R A D E 1 1 A N D 1 2 P R O G R A M M E SELECTED STUDIES PROGRAMME (a) EN 11 and EN 12. (b) SS 11 and PHE 11. (c) 4 courses from one group. (d) 2 courses numbered 12 from the same group as i n ( c ) . (e) 1 a d d i t i o n a l course numbered 12 from any group. ( f ) 1-3 more courses from any group. T o t a l : 12-14 ALL STUDENTS TAKE: EN 11 SS 11 EN 12 PHE 11 COMBINED STUDIES PROGRAMME (a) EN 11 and EN 12. (b) SS 11 and PHE 11. (c) '5-7 courses from any l i s t e d below. (d) 3 courses numbered 12 from - any l i s t e d below. T o t a l : 12-14 ARTS & SCIENCES COMMERCIAL INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITY SERVICES VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS ALG 11 ALG 12 BK 11 AC 12 AUT 11 AUT 12A CMA 11 CC 12 ACT 11 ACT 12 BI 11 ALG 12H CMA 11 BK 12 CST 11A AUT 12B FD 11 CR 12 AD l i e AD 12C CANL 11 BI 12 MKT 11 BM 12 CST l i e CST 12A MGT 11 FD 12A AD 11G AD 12G CH 11 CH 12 SH 11A CO 12 DRF 11 CST 12B MFL 11 FD 12B AD IIP AD 12P CSC 11 FR 12 SH 11B GB 12 DRF 11A CST 12C TX 11 TX 12A AR 11 AR 12 EC 11 GEO 12 TY 11 OP 12 ELX 11A DRF 12 TX 12B BA 11 BA 12 FR 1 HI 12 TY 11B SP 12 ELX 11C ELX 12A TX 12C CHO 11 CD 12P GER V LB LIT 12 MX 11C ELX 12B CD IIP DP 12 IT 11 B PH 12 MX 11D MX .12D DP 11 INS 12 JOU 11 E S C 11 MX H E MX 12C GUIT 11 ORCH 12 LAW 11 FR l i e TMA 11 INS 11 WD 12 PH 11 FR 12C ORCH 11 S T 11 PST 11 WR 11 TH 11 S T 12 PSY 11 SC 11 SP 1 LB 109 APPENDIX III A LISTING OF NWSS AND DC COURSES BY CLUSTERS A r t (v isual and performing) ; ART a p p l i e d design (ceramics, f a b r i c a r t s , j e w e l l r y , photography, sculpture) drawing and p a i n t i n g f i l m music theatre a r t s w r i t i n g and d i r e c t i n g Business : BUS accounting a d v e r t i s i n g bookkeeping business machines business management consumer economics economics general business housing management marketing recordkeeping sales s e c r e t a r i a l E a r l y Childhood Educat ion: FAM c h i l d care community services daycare foods and n u t r i t i o n health services human and family development English/Communications: ENG communications c r e a t i v e w r i t i n g Engl ish exposi tory w r i t i n g journal ism Fashion and I n t e r i o r Design: FAS c l o t h i n g and t e x t i l e s fashion design fashion i l l u s t r a t i o n home management i n t e r i o r design pattern d r a f t i n g Humanities: HUM h i s t o r y languages 1 i terature philosophy poetry prose r e l i g i o n s o c i a l s tudies Indust r ia l A r t s : IND automotive c o n s t r u c t i o n d r a f t i n g e l e c t r i c i t y e l e c t r o n i c s mechanics metal work p l a s t i c welding woodwork Recreat ion : REC community r e c r e a t i o n physical education (Appendix continued on next page) 110 Science : SCI biology chemistry computer science d e n t i s t r y earth science f i r e science geography geology mathematics nursing physics Soc ia l Sc ience : SSC anthropology cr iminology law p o l i t i c a l science psychology soc iology I l l APPENDIX IV NWSS AND DC GRADING SYSTEMS New_Westminster Secondary_School The grades and r e l a t e d percentage ranges given by NWSS teachers are qui te c lose to those suggested by the B . C . Department of Education. This researcher assumes, t h e r e f o r e , that the range of grades that the f o l l o w i n g grade points represent have remained r e l a t i v e l y s table over the past ten y e a r s . Grade Grade Point A B C+ C P (C- ,D) E 4.0 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.0 0.0 NWSS Percentage Range 86 72 67 60 40 0 100 85 71 66 59 39 Percentage Range Suggested by B . C . Dept. of. Education 86 73 67 60 40 0 100 85 72 66 59 39 By f a r the majori ty of teachers at NWSS i n d i c a t e d they they d i d not use the normal curve to determine grades. Douglas College Grade Grade Point Explanation A B C P N W I 4. 3. 2. 1. 0.0 Not c a l c u l a t e d . Not c a l c u l a t e d . Withdrawn. Incomplete. Instructors at DC are asked not to use a normal curve to determine the d i s t r i b u t i o n of student grades. a Douglas College Student Handbook 1977/78, page 20. 112 APPENDIX V MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS The p r e d i c t o r s for the f i r s t regression a n a l y s i s were \"high school c l u s t e r GPA\", \"number of courses taken i n the c l u s t e r i n high s c h o o l \" , \"age\" , \"sex\" , \"enrolment s t a t u s \" , \"high school leaving date\" (pre- or post-September 1972) and \"high school graduat ion\" . The f i r s t two var iables were forced into the regression because they were the basis f o r the hypothesis . The other v a r i a b l e s were entered , one at a t ime, according to which had the highest c o r r e l a t i o n with c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA. The amount of variance added to the t o t a l m u l t i p l e c o r r e l a t i o n by each new v a r i a b l e was computed, thus i t was p o s s i b l e to i d e n t i f y at which step adding a d d i t i o n a l v a r i a b l e s contr ibuted l i t t l e to the to ta l m u l t i p l e c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t . The stepwise procedure i d e n t i f i e d the s p e c i f i c v a r i a b l e s which contr ibuted the highest amount of variance to the p r e d i c t i v e equat ion. The \"F to enter\" and \"F to remove\" were set at the .95 l e v e l . The second a n a l y s i s was completed by the same procedure, except no v a r i a b l e s were f o r c e d . High school GPA was added to the p r e d i c t o r v a r i a b l e s i n the t h i r d a n a l y s i s with no f o r c i n g of v a r i a b l e s . Regression equations were developed to express the r e l a t i o n s h i p between the v a r i a b l e s . The equations were stated i n the form: Y 1 = b jXj + + b^X^ + a , where Y' represented the predic ted c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA, X represented the scores of the p r e d i c t o r s , \"a \" was an i n t e r c e p t constant and \"b\" was the regress ion c o e f f i c i e n t f o r each p r e d i c t o r . Regressions were checked f o r homoscedacicity by (Appendix continued on next page) 113 producing s c a t t e r p l o t s . The accuracy of the p r e d i c t i o n s was r e f l e c t e d i n the \"errors of estimate\" which were squared, t o t a l l e d , then averaged to determine the var iance . The square root of the variance was computed to determine the standard d e v i a t i o n which i n d i c a t e d how much confidence could be placed in the p r e d i c t i o n s . The success of the various p r e d i c t i o n s was evaluated by c o r r e l a -t i n g the predic ted c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA's with the actual c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA's . The r e s u l t i n g number which was computed f o r each 2 c l u s t e r i s c a l l e d R: the m u l t i p l e c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t . R i s an estimate of the proport ion of the variance of the c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA's accounted f o r by the independent v a r i a b l e s / p r e d i c t o r s . The actual usefulness of the r e l a t i o n s h i p s was best i n d i c a t e d by the standard errors o f the estimates and the absolute s i z e s o f the m u l t i p l e c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t s . 114 APPENDIX VI SUMMARY TABLE OF INTERCORRELATION MATRICES3 OF PREDICTOR AND CRITERION VARIABLES, BY,CLUSTERS, EXCLUDING DICHOTOMOUS VARIABLES BUSINESS (N=100) No: o f HS DC Entry DC HS HS CRS CLUST GPA Age CLUST GPA GPA 1 2 3 4 5 #HS Courses 15 16 10 22 HS CLUST GPA 25 64 DC Entry Age -01 -19 DC CLUST GPA — 43 HS GPA --ENGLISH/COMMUNICATIONS (N=282) 1 2 3 4 5 #HS Courses 23 -06 06 22 HS CLUST GPA -15 32 71 DC Entry Age -- 17 -17 DC CLUST GPA -- 25 HS GPA --HUMANITIES (N=394) 1 2 3 4 5 #HS Courses 09 09 19 10 HS CLUST GPA -06 34 77 DC Entry Age -- -23 -12 DC CLUST GPA 36 HS GPA Numbers have been rounded to two decimal places and no decimals are shown. (Appendix continued on next page) Appendix V I . Continued. 115 RECREATION (N=77) No. of HS CRS DC DC Entry DC CLUST GPA Age CLUST GPA HS GPA 1 2 3 4 5 #HS Courses — 19 -12 08 09 HS CLUST GPA -01 16 28 DC Entry Age -- 17 -06 DC CLUST GPA:- — 31 HS GPA SCIENCE (N=373) 1 2 3 4 5 #HS Courses — 24 -10 16 23 HS CLUST GPA -12 35 79 DC Entry Age — 11 -13 DC CLUST GPA -- 39 HS GPA SOCIAL SCIENCE (N=140) 1 2 3 4 5 #HS Courses — 05 -04 -02 02 HS CLUST GPA -13 20 65 DC Entry Age -- 15 -02 DC CLUST GPA 42 HS GPA 116 APPENDIX VII SIGNIFICANT MULTIPLE PREDICTIONS WITH COLLEGE CLUSTER GPA'S AS CRITERION C l u s t e r ri R R 2 Regress ion9 Equation r C o r r e l a t i o n With A d d i t i o n a l Var iables Rw/2bRw/3 Rw/4 Rw/5 Rw/6 Business 100 .31** .09 1.09+.35CL+.22E .25 .31.. E n g l i s h / Comm'ns 282 .41** .17 1.66+.52CL+.56A -.12S+.1E-.07Y .32 .38 .40 .404 .41 Humani t i e s 394 .44** .20 1.06+.38CL-.14S +.4A+.4G+.11C .34 .38 .41 .43 .44 Science 372 .46** .21 1.24+.51CL+.22E +.53A-.15S+.07C - .1Y .35 .39 .43 .44 .45 .46 Socia l Science 140 .36** .13 2.29+.63G+.85A +.18CL-.12S .24 .30 .34 .36 i n d e p e n d e n t (predic tor ) var iables are denoted with l e t t e r s : A i s age upon entry into c o l l e g e (young a d u l t = -1 , mature adul t = 1) , C i s number o f courses taken i n the c l u s t e r i n high s c h o o l , CL i s high school c l u s t e r GPA, E i s enrolment status (part - t ime = - 1 , f u l l - t i m e = 1) , G i s high school graduation (graduate = 1, non-graduate = -1 ) , S i s sex (M = 1, F = - 1 ) , and Y i s high school leaving date (pre-September 1972 = - 1 , post-September 1972 = 1). The dependent v a r i a b l e i s c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA. bRw/2 = M u l t i p l e c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t r e s u l t i n g when two v a r i a b l e s are included i n the equat ion. **p<.01 117 APPENDIX VIII SUMMARY TABLE OF SECONDARY STATISTICS OF SIGNIFICANT MULTIPLE REGRESSIONS WITH COLLEGE CLUSTER GPA'S AS CRITERION D P ppc F i r s t Table of Var iables r l . c . . n , . u e 9 £ e e s Not in the Equation C l u s t e r F i n a l Fi of M Freedom P a r t i a l F to (df) V a r i a b l e C o r r e l a t i o n s Enter Business 4.99** 2/97 C .069 .47 S -.059 .34 E ' .175 3.06 A .023 .05 G .037 .13 Y -.075 .53 E n g l i s h / 11.01** 2/276 C -.019 .10 Communications S -.106 3.17 E .058 .95 A .228 15.22 G .021 .12 Y -.101 2.88 Humanities 19.05** 5/388 C .174 12.22 S -.192 14.93 E .021 .17 A .168 11.29 G .137 7.52 Y -.067 1.75 Science 15.86** 6/365 C .083 2.53 S -.098 3.60 E .197 14.86 A .167 10.59 G .003 .00 Y -.106 4.21 Socia l Science 4.86** 4/135 C -.053 .39 CL .144 2.89 S -.161 3.62 E .038 .19 A .189 5.09 Y .031 .13 (Appendix continued on next page) 118 Appendix V I I I . Continued. i n d e p e n d e n t (predic tor ) var iables are denoted with l e t t e r s : A i s age upon entry into c o l l e g e , C i s number of courses taken in the c l u s t e r i n high s c h o o l , CL i s high school c l u s t e r GPA, E i s enrolment s t a t u s , G i s high school graduation, S i s sex and Y i s high school l e a v i n g date . The dependent v a r i a b l e i s c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA. **p<.01 119 APPENDIX IX SIGNIFICANT MULTIPLE PREDICTIONS WITH COLLEGE CLUSTER GPA'S AS CRITERION, INCLUDING HIGH SCHOOL GPA AS A PREDICTOR. C l u s t e r n R R 2 Regression 9 Equation r C o r r e l a t i o n With A d d i t i o n a l Var iables Rw/2BRw/3 Rw/4 Rw/5 Rw/6 Business 100 .48** .23 -.07+1.04H-.17Y +.18E+.25A .43 .46 .47 .48 E n g l i s h / Comm'ns 282 .41** .17 1.46+.41CL+.56A -.12S+.1E-.09Y + .22H .32 .38 .40 .403 .408 .41 Humanities 394 .46** .21 .79+.34H+.41A +.1C-.13S+.31G - .22CL- .06Y .36 .40 .43 .44 .45 *Rw/7 .457 .46 Recreation 77 .42** .18 2.2+.56H-.24S + .57A .31 .38 .42 Science 372 .24 .77+.57H+.2E .. +.55A-.11Y+.05C -.1S+.16CL .39 .43 .465 .47 .475 *Rw/7 .48* .49 Soc ia l Science 140 .42** .18 1.3+.91H+.63A - .12S- .14CL .42 .45 .46 .47 i n d e p e n d e n t (predic tor ) v a r i a b l e s are denoted with l e t t e r s : A i s age upon entry into DC (young adul t = - 1 , mature adul t = 1) , C i s number of courses taken i n the c l u s t e r i n high s c h o o l , CL i s high school c l u s t e r GPA, E i s enrolment status (part - t ime = - 1 , f u l l - t i m e = 1) , G i s high school graduation (graduate = 1, non-graduate = -1 ) , H i s high school GPA, S i s sex (M = 1, F = - 1 ) , and Y i s high school l e a v i n g date (pre-September 1972 = - 1 , post-September 1972 = 1) . The dependent v a r i a b l e i s c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA. b Rw/2 = M u l t i p l e c o r r e l a t i o n c o e f f i c i e n t r e s u l t i n g when two var iables are included i n the equation. **p<.01 120 APPENDIX X SUMMARY TABLE OF SECONDARY STATISTICS OF SIGNIFICANT MULTIPLE REGRESSIONS WITH COLLEGE CLUSTER GPA'S AS CRITERION, INCLUDING HIGH SCHOOL GPA AS A PREDICTOR. n F i r s t Table of Var iables r l , r - i r- u e 9 ^ e e s N o t i n the Equation C l u s t e r F inal F of ^ Freedom P a r t i a l F to (df) V a r i a b l e C o r r e l a t i o n s Enter Business 7.18** 4/95 E n g l i s h / 9.45** 6/275 Communications Humanities 17.04** 7/386 Recreation 5.22** 3/73 C .010 .01 CL -.031 .09 S .054 .28 E .122 1.47 A .091 .82 G -.064 .40 Y -.177 3.12 C -.019 .10 S -.016 3.17 E .058 .95 A .228 15.22 G .021 .12 Y -.010 2.88 H .043 .52 C .168 11.38 CL .013 4.18 S -.153 9.41 E .016 .10 A .193 15.13 G .096 3.66 Y -.084 2.75 C .051 .19 CL .080 .48 S -.236 4.36 E .084 .52 A .194 2.88 G -.076 .43 Y .086 .55 (Appendix continued on next page) 121 Appendix X. Continued. C l u s t e r F inal F of n F i r s t Table of V a r i a b l e s Degrees N o t i n t h e E q u a t i o n Freedom P a r t i a l F to (df) V a r i a b l e C o r r e l a t i o n s Enter Science 15.98** 7/364 C .077 2.18 CL .062 1.40 S -.050 .92 E .185 13.12 A .178 12.13 G -.042 .65 Y -.127 6.02 Socia l Science 9.58** 3/135 C -.033 .15 CL -.111 1.71 S -.131 2.38 E - .031 ..13 A .178 4.50 G .047 .30 Y -.012 .02 i n d e p e n d e n t (predic tor ) v a r i a b l e s are denoted with l e t t e r s : A i s age upon entry into c o l l e g e , C i s number of courses taken in the c l u s t e r in high s c h o o l , CL i s high school c l u s t e r GPA, E i s enrolment s t a t u s , G i s high school graduat ion, H i f high school GPA, S i s sex and Y i s high school leaving date. The dependent v a r i a b l e i s c o l l e g e c l u s t e r GPA. **p<.01 "@en ; edm:hasType "Thesis/Dissertation"@en ; edm:isShownAt "10.14288/1.0055833"@en ; dcterms:language "eng"@en ; ns0:degreeDiscipline "Administrative, Adult and Higher Education"@en ; edm:provider "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en ; dcterms:publisher "University of British Columbia"@en ; dcterms:rights "For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use."@en ; ns0:scholarLevel "Graduate"@en ; dcterms:title "The relation of high school academic achievement and curricula and other factors to academic achievement at a community college"@en ; dcterms:type "Text"@en ; ns0:identifierURI "http://hdl.handle.net/2429/21024"@en .