The predictive ability of certain criteria of success in grade ten honours mathematics

Somerton, Edward James (1977) The predictive ability of certain criteria of success in grade ten honours mathematics. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

Purpose -- There were two purposes, for the thesis. The major purpose was to determine the predictive efficiency of the Science Research Associates High School Placement Test Educability score, Reading score, Modern Mathematics score, Science Methodology score, and Composite score, as well as the predictive efficiency of the grade nine mathematics mark received by each student in predicting success in the grade ten Honours course. -- The secondary purpose of the investigation was to determine if the school which a student attended prior to coming to Brother Rice High School had any effect on his performance in the grade ten Honours course. -- Sample -- The subjects used were 191 boys enrolled in the grade ten Honours course at Brother Rice High School in St. John’s, Newfoundland, during the school years 1974-1975, 1975-1976, 1976-1977. There was no selection procedure used; rather all students for whom data was available were included in the study. -- Procedure -- To answer the major purpose, a stepwise multiple regression was used which was developed by Draper and Smith (1966) and programmed for the IBM 360/370 computer by Carlson and Hazlett (1969) of the University of Alberta's Educational Research Services. The computations were performed at the Computer Services Department of Memorial University of Newfoundland. -- To answer the secondary purpose an analysis of variance was performed using an F-test to determine significant differences. This was also done at the Computer Services division of Memorial University using a program written by Hunka and Bay (1969) of the University of Alberta’s Educational Research Services. -- Results and Conclusion -- The grade nine mathematics mark was the single best predictor in seven of the eight groupings considered. Two of the multiple regression equations contained three variables, five contained two variables, and one equation contained only one variable. In all eight equations the grade nine mathematics mark was the factor that carried the largest b weight. The SRA Educability score appeared in five of the equations and the SRA Modern Mathematics score appeared in three equations. Multiple correlation coefficients were found ranging from 0.502 to 0.756 with a mean value of 0.657. -- The difference in performance in the grade ten Honours course that could be attributed to the school that was attended prior to coming to Brother Rice High School was not significant at the .05 level.

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