Relationships between the noncognitive characteristics, high school course work and grades, and test scores for ACT-Tested Students

ii This study examined the relationships between students ’ noncognitive characteristics and their performance on the ACT Assessment. Of particular interest were the contributions of these noncognitive variables to explaining ACT Assessment performance (over and above course work taken, grades earned, and high school attended). The sample for the study consisted of 5,489 ACT-tested students from 106 schools who had completed a survey about their perceptions of themselves, their homes, and their school environment. From 47 % to 65 % of the variance in ACT scores was explained by high school grade average, core courses taken, education-related factors, activities, background characteristics, students ’ perceptions of self, and high school attended. Students ’ noncognitive characteristics explained less than 15 % additional variance in ACT scores, over and above grades and course work taken. However, by themselves students ’ noncognitive characteristics explained 31 % of the variance in high school grade average and 21 % and 12%, respectively of the variance in the number of years of mathematics or science courses taken. These results suggest that noncognitive characteristics impact students ’ choices of high school course work and the grades they earn in those courses, which, in turn, are strongly related to ACT scores. ii