Date Awarded
1991
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)
Department
Education
Advisor
Armand J. Galfo
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of freshmen, as measured by cumulative GPA, who received developmental preparation at the college level with those who were prepared by the secondary school systems. The author's intention was to obtain data for accountability of institutional performance and provide public officials with a program effectiveness base.;Data were obtained from the institutional research office of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia on all entering freshmen students for the years 1988 and 1989. The data base was sanitized for confidentiality and contained information on the sex, age, ethnic background, high school GPA, SAT scores, cumulative academic GPA at the end of the freshmen year, and whether they required developmental courses to begin college level courses. The data were placed in an ASCII file and analyzed by three different computer packages.;The question was reformatted into a null hypothesis which declared that there would be no difference in the performance of the two groups. Further, subsidiary null hypotheses were formed to declare that the performance would be the equal when gender, age, ethnic background, SAT scores and high school GPAs were considered.;It was concluded that there is, indeed, a small but statistically significant difference in the performance of the two groups. However, it was also concluded that the parameters selected in this case had little predictive value in forecasting performance. The best predictors of performance were high school GPAs, and they were not statistically significant. All other parameters, including SAT Scores, proved to be poor predictors of performance, but they may explain the small difference in cumulative GPA.;Further research is needed to find predictors of performance, and to explore the complex ethnic background--gender--GPA matrix discovered during the study.
DOI
https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.25774/w4-vhge-4v25
Rights
© The Author
Recommended Citation
Villaire, Nathaniel Elias, "A comparison of the performance of students prepared for study at Old Dominion University through a developmental program with those accepted directly from secondary schools" (1991). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. William & Mary. Paper 1539618290.
https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.25774/w4-vhge-4v25
Included in
Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Higher Education Commons, Secondary Education Commons
