Recently, I signed on to do some research for my college. At present I am analyzing existing data and will move on to a more thorough examination of various factors. My first findings were interesting enough that I thought to pass them along to TIPS. Sierra uses the Nelson Denny Reading Test as an assessment tool. The data I was given was for Reading Assessment Scores from the Fall of 1997 and the course performance through 1999. The scores were compared to the performance on approximately 6,000 courses. The correlation beween assessment scores and performance was around +.85 which is impressive. However, consider this: the range of scores on the assessment was from 2-35. Students scoring from 30-35 completed (grade of C or better) 77% of their courses. but students scoring from 5-10 passed about 50% of their classes. I would maintain that using this assessment test as a screening for students is inappropriate. My idea is to give the counselors a tool. I did a simple linear regression and got 95% confidence interval estimates of the range of completion for each score. I would like to provide these to our counselors who could then inform students who took the test what their score meant in terms of likelhood of passing the class. A student who got a 10, for example, would have a 50% chance of passing with a range of 25 to 75%. The student could then decide whether to take the class. Comments?
By the way the courses sample were history, psychology, business and philosophy. Harry Avis PhD Sierra College Rocklin, CA 95677 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Life is opinion - Marcus Aurelius There is nothing that is good or bad, but that thinking makes it so - Shakespeare _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
