Prediction of Academic Performance for California State University, Hayward Special Admissions Students: A Differential Analysis

The relationships between quantitative data\ud available to college admission personnel and the students'\ud subsequent college performance were investigated for\ud a group of 314 college students specially admitted to\ud California State University, Hayward (CSUH) between\ud Fall 1968, and Summer, 1971. The history of special programs\ud and admission procedures was reviewed, and laws and\ud general guidelines governing college and university\ud admission in California were summarized. First quarter\ud performance was found to be significantly related to\ud overall university performance of specially admitted\ud students.\ud Hypotheses were examined concerning the relationships\ud between university performance and: 1) high school\ud grade point average, 2) rank in high school graduating\ud class, 3) specific high school grades, 4) particular high\ud school attended, and 5) ACT and SAT partial and total\ud scores. In certain hypotheses, students were grouped\ud by age, sex and ethnic identity. CSUH grade point average\ud was found to be associated with high school grade point\ud average, and both ACT and SAT total and partial scores\ud (with the exception of math and social science partial\ud scores). High school grade point average, high school\ud class rank, and particular high school courses and grades\ud were found to have predictive value for persistence in\ud college study. High school grade point average and high\ud school class rank were found to be more closely associated\ud with college success than test scores, particularly when\ud students were grouped by sex and ethnic identity. An\ud exception to this was Chicano students, for whom ACT had\ud more predictive value than did high school grade point average.\ud ACT did not have predictive value for Black students, either\ud as a group or divided by sex. Neither ACT nor high school\ud grade point average had predictive value for Black men