ERIC Number: ED546240
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 134
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: 978-1-2676-0621-1
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Predicting SAT Performance from Advanced Course Content and Timing of Matriculation
Patterson, Jonathan Sparks
ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Mercer University
As record numbers of students are applying to selective colleges and universities, students are attempting to set themselves apart from their peers by taking rigorous advanced courses in high school. The race for improving a student's academic record has resulted in more and more students taking these courses earlier and earlier in their high school career. Many believe that these courses not only increase their likelihood for college admissions but also give them an advantage in college readiness. The problem is that the United States is falling behind its international peers in the preparation and completion of college graduates. This results in lower employment rates and lower earnings. Another problem with the phenomena is that there is little evidence that taking these courses early in high school has any value-added to college readiness. The purpose of the study is to determine whether specific advanced courses, the number of courses, and the time the courses are taken (early or late in high school) can be used to predict SAT performance. Students' eighth grade CogAT sub-scale scores will be used to compare students' cognitive ability before entering into high school. These scores along with ethnicity, gender, and socio-economic status, as measured by participation in free or reduced lunch allowed the researcher to level for innate differences between students. the study was a quantitative ex-post facto regression study using archival data was conducted to investigate the predictability of specific independent variables on the SAT. The data collected in this study will be from the course and testing history of the 2010- 2011 graduating class in a large metropolitan system in the Georgia. The study used multiple regressions to examine the relationships between specific AP content, the time of matriculation of those course(s), and the number of AP semesters to SAT performance on the Math, Verbal and Writing section. The findings showed a statistically significant relationship between the control variables and the SAT Math, Verbal, and Writing Tests. When assessing the researchers' hypotheses through block multiple regression, findings showed that the majority of the variance of SAT Math, Verbal and Writing scores can he explained by the control variables. The remainder, only ten to fifteen percent can be explained by the number of AP semesters students take. Conclusions about the appropriateness of AP courses for younger students cannot be drawn from this study. Nonetheless, a relationship was not found that taking specific AP courses predicts SAT performance. Nor did it find taking said AP courses early or late generated a prediction of SAT scores. The study did find that the strongest relationship was the number of AP courses students took predicting SAT performance. From these findings of this study, a formula for which AP courses to take, the time of matriculation of those courses, and the number of AP courses students should take was not identified for predicting SAT scores. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
Descriptors: College Entrance Examinations, Course Content, College Graduates, College Preparation, Prediction, Advanced Courses, High School Students, Cognitive Ability, Academic Achievement, Scores, Correlation, Socioeconomic Status, Multiple Regression Analysis, Advanced Placement
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Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Secondary Education; High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Georgia
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: SAT (College Admission Test)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A