Predicting Undergraduates’ Grades from the Survey of Academic Orientations and from the General Information Scholastic Test Prof. Hall P. Beck

Predictors of Grades Academic Predictors: High School Record, Teacher Recommendations, Standardized Tests Personality Tests: I-E, Test Anxiety, Tolerance of Ambiguity Perceptions of Academic Environment: SAO

Purposes of Investigation Determine if the GIST is predictive of GPA Determine if the SAO is predictive of GPA Determine if the GIST and SAO given concurrently explain greater variance in GPA than either instrument alone Determine if the GIST and SAO improve the prediction of GPA after taking PGPA into account.

GIST And SAO Measures GIST-I and GIST-M Structure Dependence, Creative Expression, Reading For Pleasure, Academic Efficacy, Academic Apathy, Mistrust of Instructors Adaptiveness Index

Representative GIST-I Items Which hormone helps the body respond to physical and emotional stress? a.Saliva b.Philogiston c.Estrogen d.Insulin e.Adrenaline The Magna Carta was signed in a.Germany b.France c.England d.Italy e.United States

Representative GIST-M Items The square root of.50 is: a.Greater than.50 b.Equal to 2.00 divided by 4 c.Less than.50 d.Equal to.50 squared e.None of the above To neutralize her chemical solution Keri must mix her acid in a 3:1 ratio with a strong base. If Keri measures 4.5 ml of acid into a beaker, how much base will be required to neutralize the solution? a.1.5 ml b.1.75 ml c.2.25 ml d.2.5 ml e.None of the above

Representative SAO Items Structure Dependence: I like questions that have definite right and wrong answers. Creative Expression: Learning new things is thrilling. Reading For Pleasure: I like to look through the library for books that spark my interest even when I am not working on a specific course assignment. Academic Efficacy: I sometimes wonder if I am college material. Academic Apathy: I try to work just hard enough to get the grade that I need in a class. Mistrust of Instructors: Some instructors enjoy giving students poor grades.

The General Information Scholastic Test: Some Validity Data (Cloherty, 1998) Significant, positive correlations were found between GIST-I and SAT-V (.63) and GIST-M and SAT-M (.61) When corrected for restriction of range the correlations increased to.79 and.76, respectively

Development and Validation of Scores on a Measure of Six Academic Orientations in College Students Davidson, Beck and Silver, 1999

SAO Alpha Values

SAO Test-Retest

Construct Validation of the SAO Personality Profiles: Correlate SAO factors with personality indices Work Preference Inventory Personal Need For Structure 16PF O and L Scales NEO-Openness California Personality Inventory Ai Scale LOGO II

Methodology 1.Administered SAO and GIST to 264 first semester ASU freshmen 2.Obtained permission to retrieve first semester GPA from the registrar and regressed the six SAO orientations as well as the GIST-I and GIST-M with GPA

Regression of Variables on GPA (R 2 ) SAOGISTSAO + GIST.15**.07**.20** **p <.01

Regression of Variables on GPA (R 2 ) PGPAPGPA+GIST.12**.13 **p <.01

Regression of Variables on GPA (R 2 ) PGPAPGPA + SAO.12**.23** **p <.01

Discussion: GIST Brief and accurate measure of academic ability and/or achievement for research purposes. Assisting admission personnel in evaluating non- traditional students. Assisting high school counselors in determining if their students’ SAT scores are atypical.

Discussion: SAO and/or GIST Provide universities with a better means of predicting Academic and Social adjustment than is currently available. Provide counselors with information regarding perceptions of their students. Allow university personnel to focus their services on students who need it the most. Serve as a guide for the development of therapeutic interventions.