Reading Skill as A Predictor of College Achievement

Approximately 56 per cent of the group were male students. The distribution of the students' choices of various schools within the University was as fol lows: Slightly more than half the students entered Liberal Arts. Of the remaining students, approxi mately 20 per cent entered the Business School, 20 per cent entered the Education School, and ten per cent the Engineering School. At the beginning of the testing s e s s ion, the Di agnostic Reading Test (2), survey section, form H, was administered to the students. The content and difficulty level of the test are intended for grades seven through college freshman year. The survey section has the following timed subtests which yield separate reading scores: Subtest I: general story-type reading. (1 5 min utes) Subtest II: a vocabulary test using words from mathematics, science, English, and social studies. (10 minutes) Subtest III: paragraph comprehension of subject matter from social studies and science. (15 minutes) The following scores were obtained from perfor mance on the three subtests: Score 1 a: words read per minute as recorded by the student on subtest I. Score 1 b: comprehension of subtest I at the reading rate recorded. Score 2: vocabulary from subtest H. Score 3: the sum of scores 1 b andscores on subtest HI which is comprehension of work type material. Score 4: the total of scores lb, 2, and 3, but excluding 1 a (words read per minute). In the analysis presented in the next section, scores on 1 a (rate), 2 (vocabulary), 3 (comprehen sion excluding vocabulary), and 4 (comprehe n s i o n including vocabulary) were correlated with first se mester grade point averages. Afterward, the same type of analysis was performed, but the g r a d e s in physical education and ROTC courses were excluded from the computation of grade point averages? These courses were excluded because of their non academic nature and because grades in ROTC cour ses are based largely on attendance. CONSIDERABLE emphasis has beenplaced on the relationship between reading achievement and grades in college. Evidence for the importance of this relationship has been derived from two types of research studies. The first type is represented by correlational studies in which scores on reading tests are corre lated with grades obtained at a 1 at e r time. Thus, Jackson (4) found a correlation of . 64 between the Michigan State College Reading Test and first quar ter grade point averages. In another study by Ha vens (3), a substantial positive correlation was ob tained between scores on the Cooperative Reading Comprehension Test and grades in pre-law courses* On the other hand, low or negative correlations have been reported by Preston and Bol ton (7) and Murphy and Davis (6). The second type of research study analyzes the improvement in grades shown after participation in reading programs. For example, Smith and Wood (9) found that students who had taken a reading im provement course showed a significantly greater gain in grade point average than a comparable group of students who wanted to participate but were un able to do so, and another comparable group ran domly selected from the freshman populationc Sim ilarly, Ranson (8) reported that students in a read ing program demonstrated a s i g n if icantly greater increase in grades than a comparable group of non participating students. On the other hand, Kingston and George (5) noted a reverse trend in which stu dents who had not taken a reading course made a greater improvement in grades than a group who had completed such a course. However, these au thors pointed out that the two groups were not com parable in terms of scholastic aptitude. The present study follows the design of the cor relational type of investigation. The hypothesis is that scores on a standardized reading test show a predictive relationship to college grades.