EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

August 1995

 

 

This study was conducted at the request of Laurie Wood - English Concurrent Enrollment Coordinator. The purpose of the study is to determine if there is a significant difference between the grades of English 120 students for those who have taken English 110 in a high school concurrent enrollment course and those who have taken English 110 in a regular UVSC course. The study also tests to see if there is a significant difference between English 110 grades of students taught at UVSC and students taught at a high school.

 

 

A population of 1,843 students who have taken both English 110 and English 120 (or their equivalents) since the Fall of 1990 were captured off of the SIS database. Students who took English 110 as part of a high school concurrent enrollment program are identified in the variable labeled HS_110. Other variables collected were; English ACT scores, labeled SCORE, English 110 grade points, labeled GPA_110, and English 120 grade points, labeled GPA_120. The data was analyzed using the statistical package SPSS for windows. Tests conducted on the data included; analysis of variance (ANOVA), t-test for independent samples, stepwise linear regression modeling, and descriptive statistics.

 

 

The t-tests for independent samples indicate a statistically significant difference between grades received by students enrolled in English 110 at a high school and students enrolled at UVSC (confidence level .05, 95%, P = .005). The average GPA for students taking English 110 at UVSC (on-site) is 3.25 compared to an average GPA of 3.56 for high school students (off-site).

 

Using a t-test there was not a statistically significant difference in the GPA of English 120 students who took English 110 on-site at UVSC and those who took English 110 at an off-site location (Confidence level .05, 95%, P = .949). Students who took English 110 during high school had an average GPA or 3.25 for English 120 while students who took English 110 at UVSC had an average English 120 GPA of 3.21.

 

An analysis of variance test (ANOVA) was conducted to determine if a significant relationship between English ACT scores and English 120 GPA exists. The results of the ANOVA test indicated that a significant relationship does exist at the .05 confidence level. The strength of this relationship was measured using a stepwise linear regression model.

 

When a linear regression model was applied using the three variables used to predict English 120 grades ( English 110 grades, ACT Score, and location of English 110 course). Between English 110 grades, ACT scores and location the most predictive variable was shown to be English 110 grades. The English 110 grades account for about 10.8% of the predictability (.05, 95% confidence level). Adding the ACT variable raises the predictability slightly to 11.27% and the further addition of location raised the final predictability factor to 11.5%. Subsequently, 11.5% of the variance in English 120 grades can be attributed to English 110 grade, English ACT score, and where the English 110 was taught. Factors other than these three variables account for the other 88.5% variance in English 120 grades.