A study of the relationship between high school and college academic performance

Abstract

The problem. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between high school academic performance of graduates from the Iloilo Regional School of Fisheries and subsequent academic performance in college, and to consider the feasibility of predicting possible performance in college on the basis of the over-all high school average. It endeavored to answer the following questions: 1. To what extent can a graduate of a vocationally oriented high school program succeed in the college academic program? Specifically, is there a relationship between the high school grade average and the freshman grade average (a) among males only, among females only and among those in the combined group; and (b) among students enrolled in commerce and secretarial courses, science-oriented courses, teach-training courses, and technical courses? 2. Is there a particular level of achievement in high school below which success in a college program is highly unlikely or improbable? Methods of procedure and sources of data. The students who graduated from the Iloilo Regional School of Fisheries from 1962 to 1966 were selected as subjects for this study. The initial step in the investigation was to make a list of students who graduated from the Iloilo Regional School of Fisheries from 1962 to 1966, and to conduct an investigation to determine which students had pursued a college course and in which schools they had enrolled for at least one year. Then the general high school average of the students in the final list was computed. The first and second semester ratings of the students were obtained from the various schools and colleges in Iloilo City together with information on the courses they had enrolled in. Then the secondary school general average and the average of the student in college were determined. The product-moment method was used in computing the coefficient of correlation for males and females separately, for the combined group, for those enrolled in the technical courses and in the teacher-training courses. In view of the few number of cases for the science- oriented and the commercial and secretarial groups, the rank-order correlation was used in the computation. To determine the predictive efficiency of an obtained r, the coefficient of forecasting efficiency was computed for each. To determine whether there is a particular level of achievement in high school below which success in a college program is highly unlikely or improbable, three approaches were employed. First, a study was made to determine which graduates failed in college and the groups to which they belonged. Then the students were divided into three groups on the basis of the high school general average. Then the correlations for each group were computed. Lastly, these groups were entered in an expectancy table according to their performance in college. An attempt was also made to compare the relationship between only the fourth year high school grade average and the freshman grade average. Findings and interpretation.

1. Extent of success of a graduate of a vocationally oriented high school program in a college academic program. The coefficients of correlation for the males, females, and the combined groups were .448, .553, and .528, respectively. These findings indicate positive substantial relationship and were significant at the 1 per cent level; however, the coefficient of forecasting efficiency of these figures are only 11 per cent, 17 per cent, and 15 per cent better than chance respectively. The coefficient of correlation for students enrolled in the teacher-training courses was .611, indicating marked relationship significant at the 1 per cent level; that of the commerce and secretarial courses, .49, indicating marked relationship but not significant at the 5 per cent level; that of the technical courses, .349, significant only at the 5 per cent level; and that of the science-oriented courses, .075} not significant even at the 5 per cent level. The coefficients of forecasting efficiency for these figures ar 21 per cent, 13 per cent, 6 per cent, and less than 1 per cent better than chance, respectively. The correlation between the fourth year high school average and the college freshman grade average was .574) indicating higher relationship between these two than between the cumulative high school average and the college average. 2. Level of achievement below which success in college is unlikely or improbable. There is no level of achievement below which success in college is unlikely or improbable. Conclusions. The following conclusions can be drawn from the findings: 1. The female group had a higher degree of predictability than the male group. 2. The coefficient of forecasting efficiency between the high school average and the freshman grade average for those enrolled in the teacher-training courses was 21 per cent better than chance; for those in commerce and secretarial courses, 13 per cent better than chance; for those in the technical courses, 6 per cent better than chance; and for those in the science-oriented courses, less than 1 per cent better than chance. 3. The low correlation between the high school technical courses and the college technical courses was a disappointment. 4. The fourth year high school average was a better predictor of success in college than the over-all high school average. 5. The low achievers in high school are not necessarily doomed to failure in college. Recommendations. In view of the limitations, findings and conclusions of the study, the following are suggested: 1. Care should be taken not to generalize from the results of this study. 2. There is a need for replicating this study using a bigger group. 3. Prediction should not be based on high school grades alone since there are other factors that may strongly condition college performance. 4. A study should be conducted to determine the cause or causes of the poor correlations of high school grades with those in the technical and science courses. 5. Since such extensive adjustment as may be expected to be made upon entrance in college may have adverse effect on a freshman student, correlation studies should be conducted between high school grades and the average grade obtained in either the second year or third year of college work, or in both. 6. In studies of this nature, the fourth year high school average alone may be used in place of the cumulative average of all high school years.