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The validity of University Entrance Examination and High school Grade point average for predictiong first year university students' academic performance
Tesema, Melaku Tesfa (2014) The validity of University Entrance Examination and High school Grade point average for predictiong first year university students' academic performance.
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| Abstract: | University entrance exam scores and High School grade point average are two admission criteria that are currently used for higher education institutions in Ethiopia. It is essential to investigate the predictive validities of these two criteria, to ensure the precision of admission decisions. This study was conducted to examine the predictive validity of university entrance exam scores and high school GPA for college performance in different programs at Addis Ababa university; Differential validity was also measured across gender and school type (private vs public) .Predictive validity was evaluated as an index of the relationship between the predictors (High school GPA (HGPA) and the University entrance exam scores (UEEs) scores), and the criterion (first year college GPA). The sample used in the study consisted of 217 students from different study programs at Addis Ababa University. Statistical procedures utilized in the research included descriptive, bivariate correlation and regression analyses. Results obtained showed Both high school GPA and the University entrance exam scores significantly predict first year college GPA in general and for each study program (mathematics, Geology, statistics & computer science) as well . The combination of both predictors explained approximately 59 % (for mathematics), 16 % (for Geology), 34% (for statistics) and 37% (for computer science students) of the total variance in the first year college GPA. The comparison of the standardised regression coefficients revealed that University entrance exam scores have higher predictive power for all programs except for Geology, in which High school GPA predicted more. Differential validity and prediction results showed that for UEES, the validity coefficients and regression coefficients were significantly higher for private school students than public school students, which indicates the existence of differential validity and prediction of UEES across school. Sex differences in validity and prediction appear to be not significant. Finally it is recommended that the ministry of education and other admission personnel should give more emphasis to UEEs and review the appropriateness of using High school Grade point average to enhance predictive validity of college grade point average. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 81 education, teaching |
| Programme: | Educational Science and Technology MSc (60023) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/66652 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
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