AN EVALUATION OF VARIOUS MEASURES OF HIGH SCHOOL PERFORMANCE IN PREDICTING COLLEGE ACHIEVEMENT FOR FRESHMAN NROTC REGULAR STUDENTS.

The research was designed to investigate the validity of high school performance, measured in a number of different ways, in the prediction of college freshman grade point average. Grades on high school transcripts obtained from 13 NROTC units were transformed to a 15-point grading scale. Statistical analyses were conducted to determine the validity of individual high school course grades and a number of general curriculum areas as predictors of freshman college grade point average. Academic high school grade average, the grade average of liberal arts courses, and overall high school grade average correlated higher with college achievement that the presently operational High School Rating HSR, although the increase in validity in each case was not statistically significant. None of the other composites of courses or individual course average attained as high a correlation with the criterion as did HSR. In the averages, Foreign Language, History, and Physics, correlated higher with first year college grade point average than did any other indes of high school performance. It was recommended that HSR be retained as a selector for the NROTC Regular program since it is more easily derived than the grade averages investigated in this study. It was further recommended that a new form specifically requesting high school rankin-class be developed in an effort to obtain this statistic for all candidates. A suggested format for such a form was included. Author