Factors IDENTIFIERS ACT Assessment; *Latent Structure Models

The purpose of this project was to develop a structural model using several important variables related to academic achievement among top college students. Measures of college grade point average (GPA), high school GPA, score on the ACT Assessment, age, and the number of credit hours taken during the college years were collected from graduating seniors for the fall semester of 1994 at a large southern state university. Out of 4.661 graduating seniors, only 1,268 students who completed all the variables were selected for this study. After a series of descriptive statistical analyses and a correlation matrix for included variables, a twofactor solution was obtained from exploratory factor analysis with the PROMAX rotation through the Statistical Analysis System. The first factor was considered an academic factor. The second factor was referred to as a biographical factor. The characteristics and factor loadings of each factor are discussed. The possibility of research to include other relevant variables is also reviewed. (Contains 2 tables and 19 references.) (Author/SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document