The relationship between intelligence, reading comprehension, and academic achievement among one-hundred high school students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between intelligene, reading comprehension, and academic achievement among one-hundred high school seniors as measured by two standardized tests and school marks. The total sample used in this investigation was composed students, chosen at random, out of a total of 145 seniors who were enrolled in the Saint Thomas High School in October, 1951. The age range was from 16 to 19. The two tests used in this study were the Revised Beta Examination and the Cooperative Reading Comprehension. In this study academic achievement indicated the pupil's average accomplishment in school subjects interpreted in terms of the average school marks for three years of high school. Five coefficients of correlation were computd to determine their relationships. The correlations used were (1) intelligence and reading comprehension; (2) intelligence and academic achievement; (3) intelligence and vocabulary; (4) academic achievement and vocabulary; and (5) academic achievement and reading comprehension. The coefficient of correlation between academic achievement and the total weighted scores for the Revised Beta Examination was .370; the correlation between academic achievement and the "Vocabulary" scaled scores .713; the correlation between "Vocabulary" scaled scores and the total weighted scores for the Revised Beta Examination .370; and the highest of the correlations was between academic achievement and te sum of the scaled scores for the total reading comprehension which was .730. From the correlations of intelligece with reading comprehension, academic achievement and vocabulary, we can conclude that these correlations, although measurable, were not highly significant. The high correlation obtained between reading comprehension and academic achievement would tend to show that the ability to read with understanding is a good indication of academic success. The Revised Beta Examination appeared in all instances to have a low correlation with reading comprehension and with academic achievement.Psychology, Department o