Effects of Discrepant ACT and High School GPA on Enrollment and Persistence

• In Event: 16.061 - Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: 16.061-7 - Advanced Academic Preparation and College Enrollment: Tutoring, Dual Credits, and Placement

Abstract

In this study, we examined impacts of discrepant ACT Composite scores (ACTC) and high school grade point average (HSGPA) on college enrollment and persistence, and whether the impacts are the same across student gender, White/Minority, and income subgroups. In general, students with consistently high or medium scores on both ACTC and HSGPA had higher enrollment and persistence probabilities than students having discrepant achievement and students having consistently low scores. For students with discrepant achievement, not magnitude but direction of discrepancy impacted enrollment and persistence probabilities. Specifically, ACTC discrepant students had higher enrollment but lower persistence probabilities than HSGPA discrepant students. Only small effect sizes of interactions between discrepancies and demographic characteristics existed.

Authors

• Shuqiong Lin, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Edgar I. Sanchez, ACT, Inc.