I__. - International Military Testing Association

elationships. The highest correlation was observed for Final Course bra&e (r
= .31 p q.01) and the lowest correlation for the Pass/Fail dichotomy (r = . ui;
p).CSL Because the study focused on identifying a college effect for a
specific criterion only if a GPA effect was found, the L-assiFai1 measure was
excluded from further analyses.
Joint GYA and college effects were found for all remaining criteria
except the 6th week OTER. Information about both college identity and tiPA
made a unique contribution to prediction of the cadets’ training performance.
However, no interaction between GPA and college was detected. Expected
training performance differed by a constant amount at all GL'A levels.for
graduates of different colleges. The functional form of the CPA-performance
relationship for colleges was linear for three performance criteria and
curvilinear for four performance criteria. Figure 1 illustrates the ,
'representative finding. A curvilinear relationship between GPA and
performance is depicted, and between-college differences in expected
performance are shown to be the same across GPA values.
Table 1.3 Correlations (uncorrected)
of Criteria with GPA
Criteriona r
Pass/Fail .Ol
Final Course Grade .31X"
cwr 1 .19X"
CWT 2 .22x*
CWT 3 .21**
CWT 4 .22**
CWT 5 .18X*
OTER 6th Week .07*
OTER 11th Week .20**
aPass/Fail N = 11,619. Other
criteria N = 9,858.
* p (.05.
**z c.01.
Expected CWT 5 Score
,00 --.-..----- -.-.-
98.
08
94'
.__ _,.____ _. .
92 + _-______ _..__ i
-.
_._.” *
_... -.--.' . . '
SO
88
,---e---.. _- ..*.- -.--. -.-.
. . . .
88 * ---:.,:*
L---.r ---. -- _.._ -_- 7.-..---. _- , _ , ..
1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00
_ _..
Grade Point Average
-- School ‘A’ --+ School ‘8’ -- School ‘C’
Figure 1. Relationship Between Jrii
and CWT 5 Score for Different Collepzs
Explanatory Phase: Characteristics Which Account for College Effects
The explanatory phase was accomplished once the results of the analytic
phase showed that the relationship between GPA and cadet success varied by
college. The objective of this phase was to identify variables reflecting
the characteristics of colleges which might underlie the combined effect of
GPA and college. Of interest was whether performance variance accounted for
by colleges was due primarily to the talent of students (college
selectivity) or to the nature of the academic experience (educational
environment). Astin (1962, 1971) showed that both classes of variables can
be used to distinguish colleges, but suggested (1972) tnat selectivity is
the more important correlate of graduates' future performance.
347
4
.