Publication Date

1965

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Wheeler, Wallace J.||O'Connor, Henry (Professor of education)

Degree Name

M.S. Ed. (Master of Education)

Legacy Department

Department of Education

LCSH

Grading and marking (Students)

Abstract

Problem: The first phase of the problem was to determine what correlation existed between students' honor point averages and their national Merit. Scholarship Qualifying Test selection scores for the upper third of the 1963 graduating class of East High School in Rockford, Illinois. The second phase of the problem was to test the hypothesis that students taking accelerated courses may be being penalized in terms of honor point average because there is no special grading policy for accelerated courses, and a student might receive a lower grade than he would have received for the same amount of effort in a regular course. Procedure: The cumulative records of the upper third of the graduating class were studied. The students' honor point averages and their national Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test selection scores were recorded. Of the 224 students in the upper third of the class, 150 had taken the national Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test and were used in the study. Within the group of 150 students there were 95 students who had taken accelerated courses. In order to offset any possible grading penalty, honor points for the grades in the accelerated courses were multiplied by a factor of one and one-half, and the honor point averages recomputed* The grades multiplied by the factor were celled weighted grades. The unweighted honor point average, the weighted honor point average, and the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test selection scores were recorded on data processing cards and fed into an International Business Machines 1620 computer programmed with the Pearson Product-Moment formula to derive coefficients of correlation. Findings: The coefficient of correlation of unweighted honor point overages to National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test selection scores was +.553, and the coefficient of correlation of weighted grades to National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test selection scores was +.588, both of which are substantial or marked correlations at the one per cent level of confidence. The coefficient of correlation was 4.035 greater after grade weighting, but this difference was not significant. The conclusions of the study were: 1. There was a substantial or marked correlation between honor point averages and National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test selection scores; 2. A weighting factor of one and one-half used for grades received in accelerated courses does not produce a significantly more positive relationship between honor point averages and National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Teat selection scores; 3. The results of this study did not support the hypothesis that students are penalized in terms of honor point averages by electing accelerated courses.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.

Extent

vi, 47 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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