Virginia Educational Research Association: Relationships Between Placement Criteria and Students' Emporium-Based Developmental Math Final Grades

• In Event: The Consortium of State and Regional Educational Research Associations Distinguished Paper Session 2

Abstract

With computer-based math emporiums serving many post-secondary students who are assigned developmental coursework, there is a need to evaluate the predictive value of placement criteria. This quantitative, predictive, correlational study explored how accurately students’ ACT/SAT math scores, local math assessment results, and unweighted high school GPAs predicted students’ final math grades. Multiple linear regression results from three school years each yielded significant values. High school GPA was the most accurate of the three predictors, while ACT/SAT math component and local assessment scores alternated as the second most accurate. This study portrays developmental math placement as operating in a dynamic and somewhat unpredictable environment, and aligns with other studies suggesting multiple method placement practices are better than single method practices.

Author

• George Sherman, Liberty University