mrwmcamwummk mmurnawm ma... ., ... ‘FF- ~. 1.: ""."':3;l;,»fi‘723§:~- u m, 9:. (fig? ‘4‘ z,“ 2...“? .1." 1 varm‘“ x _ ‘ ‘~ . . ",l 4&L1,‘ft:zfg Iu‘fia; '1. . A . ”w ' ‘ " r)? 5; . 'J 1‘“, ‘ 1:51;; 1‘ I A ., . 13:2: 1‘ X $2 6' ;. ‘fiig‘k ' ' I} xk’ s ,- I ’ his! x «my n‘ Y'T'VTH . -.1.1'A2..‘. .1 'n n1 ' ’- uh" " 4:: fir .-u;£'|il '1‘,“ ‘3 131155133: * V l TA, 5:? tum-wont, ILLELI‘. ._a - gun: * name an: 1 . (iii, . > ' 3" . 1 ' ,. f- .313 W n5" 0 . “if!” ~. '. fl " ‘ Axum.» ‘- 'rh n '1 rd» ,n .22.“.‘3‘ 5:33:35; _ ‘1“ m“:- «t. "MW 0 r .l......£.u,.‘ mu 1.4;. -L.. ,flfl.‘ v.7. r” “'1'.“ ~ M “a...“ W ..; , " " ' ’ "£441“;- a . ... _,_ mlfl‘fiifila .- ,. u. WM "drama-:2 . J" SLY! Myra-m ' 0-169 . — ...— -—...--.— m... This is to certify that the thesis entitled A STUDY OF ACCELERTI‘IOE? 3 mrI'IIILlTICZ‘I II THE 11 51C CCLLJ'X‘EL‘ 11"” IIICEIIQIQ.’ STATE COLLEGE presented by Eiobert L. Sweet has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for Ed. D. degree in Education {222 ZMW Major professor REMOTE STORAGE PLACE IN RETURN BOX to remove this checkout from your record. TO AVOID FINES return on or before date due. DATE DUE DATE DUE DATE DUE A STUDY OF ACCELERATION BY EXAMINATION IN THE BASIC COLLEGE AT MICHIGAN STATE COLLEGE BY 6 \ Robert L?‘ Sweet A THESIS Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION Department of Higher Education 195k - ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS - The writer is indebted to many people lor the help given in completing this study. ‘hitnout their aid it would not have been possible. The study was made as a result of suggestions by Dr. L. B. May- hew and Dr. Paul Dressel oi the Board of Examiners at Michigan State College. It was started under Lr. kilosn huntyan, Head of the Department of Higher Education, and completed under Lr. Walker H. Hill of that Department and the Board of Examiners. The bulk of the study was done under Mr. Hill's guidance and to him the writer is indebted more than he can express for the encouragement and construc- tive criticism necessary for its completion. The other members of the guidance committee, Dr. Milosh huntyan, Ur. Clyde Campbell, hr. Austen J. Smith, and Dr. Cecil V. Millard are thanked for their very helpful suggestions and aid. it was necessary to spend a great deal of time obtaining data from College records, and, for permitting use oi these records, thanks go to Hr. Lyle Leisenring and Mrs. Lorothy Barnard of the Records Office. Help in making the statistical analysis and in criticizing the results was given the writer by Dr. Millard Harrington of the Board of Examiners. His encouragement was of great aid. Acknowledgement is given to those on the staff at Michigan State College who were kind enough to answer questions, oIfer opinions, and ‘P‘FT%PT"g QJ‘J": {LJQ’ z._ .‘ .‘ W No ‘ provide necessary information and materials during the progress of the investigation. Special thanks are due John W. Truitt, Assistant to the Dean of Students, who very kindly supplied the Student Activ- ities Cards which were sent to the students. During the confusion of final preparation, the members of the Departments of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering and others in the School of Engineering were most considerate in making available help in the compiling of the thesis. They are too many to list by name, but the writer is grateful to all of them for their aid. Finally, without the support of my wife, Kathryn, the thesis could not have been completed. It was her consideration and patience that made completion possible. Robert Louis Sweet candidate for the degree of Doctor of Education Final Examination, Earch lO, l95h, 10:00 A.E., Room 116 Morrill Hall Dissertation: A Study of Acceleration by Examination in the Basic College at Michigan State College Outline of Studies Major field: Cognate field: Biographical Items Higher Education Metallurgical Engineering Born, October h, 1912,'Waupun,‘wisconsin Undergraduate Studies: Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1930-35 Graduate Studies: University of Michigan, 1935-36 Experience: Michigan State College, 1938-h3 Michigan State College, l9h8-Sh Engineering Trainee, Seaman Body Division, Nash- Kelvinator Corporation, 1956, Instructor in Chemical Engineering, Michigan State College, l937-h0, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, l9hO-hh, Project Engineer (Ferrous Metallurgy), Chrysler Corporation, Engineering Division (on leave from Michigan State College), l9hh-h6, Associate Professor of Metallurgical Engineering, l9h6- 1953, Professor of Metallurgical Engineering, 1953- Member of Tau Beta Pi, Phi Lambda Tau, kappa Delta Pi, American Society for Engineering Education, American Society for Metals, American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers. A STUDY OF ACCELERATION BY EXAMINATION IN THE BASIC COLLEGE AT MICHIGAN STATE COLLEGE By Robert L. Sweet AN ABSTRACT Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION Department of Higher Education 195h APPROVED [12;2Z2224crrx- ’723v4/kixéi Robert L. Sweet The purpose of this study was to obtain a profile of performance of a typical group of students at Michigan State College who accelerated in Basic College courses by passing comprehensive examinations. The class graduating in June, 1953, was used as a sample. Acceleration was achieved by passing the examination after taking one or two terms of a Basic course and thus gaining credit for the entire three terms of the course. Permission to take a comprehensive examination before completing the course was based primarily on grades attained in the one or two terms which the student had taken. Accelerates are defined as those students who had received and successfully used this permission in one or more basic courses. Certain aspects of their performance were compared to the performance of students who were eligible for permission to accelerate but did not choose to use it. The latter are defined as non~accelerates. These accelerates and non-accelerates were compared with respect to their general academic performance in college, their grades in closely related upper-school courses, their participation in extra- curricular college activities, and their average ages at graduation. In addition, their reasons for accelerating or not accelerating were analyzed. The 356 accelerates had significantly higher grade point averages than the 13h non-accelerates at the end of the freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years. However, the 159 students who accelerated all possible courses had lower grade point averages at the end of these scholastic years than the non-accelerates, although not significantly so. Robert L. Sweet ‘Women accelerates had higher grade point averages than women non- accelerates and men accelerates had higher grade point averages than men non-accelerates, significant only in the senior year in eacu case. The 81 students transferring to hichigan State College and accelerating had grade point averages similar to those of four-year accelerates for all four years, and 35 non-accelerate transfer students had Similar grade point averages to the four-year non—accelerates. Accelerates snowed a tendency (not significant) to stay in school longer than did non-accelerates, and they graduated in significantly greater numbers than did non-accelerates. Those who accelerated two terms in a basic College course and non-accelerates of equal ability in the same course were compared on their grades in closely related upper-school courses. The accelerates achieved slightly better grades in these upper-school courses, but not significantly so. Accelerates participated to about the same extent in extra-curricular activities as did non-accelerates, and held offices in these activities equally as much as did non-accelerates. Those who accelerated all the courses they were eligible to accelerate also participated and held office equally with the non-accelerates. The reason given most frequently for accelerating by 207 accelerates who returned a questionnaire was that they were desirous of getting on to upper-school courses. Other reasons frequently mentioned were a desire to ease course loads in the junior and senior years, to avoid duplication of course material learned elsewhere, dislike of the Basic Robert L. Sweet College course organization and content, and to graduate in less than four years. Less than one-third of those Who gave early graduation as a reason did graduate earlier, however. Accelerates as a group were the same average age at graduation as non-accelerates. It was concluded that students in this class took good advantage of their acceleration opportunity, that accelerates were superior to non-accelerates academically, that the very good students were acceler- ating frequently, but not doing all the acceleration possible, that whether a student was an accelerate or a non-accelerate was not reflected in his participation in extra-curricular activities, that accelerating two terms in Basic College courses was no deterrent to achievement in closely related upper-school courses, and that very few students graduated early as a result of acceleration in Basic College courses. CHAPTER II III IV VI VII VIII TABLE OF CONTENTS TEIEPROBLE’M................... Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Major Hypotheses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PREVIOUS STUDIES AND PRACTICES IN ACCELERATION IN AMERICAN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES . . . . . . . Acceleration by Examination . . . . . . . . . Other Factors in Acceleration . . . . . . . . Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SAMPLING PROCEDURES USED IN THE STUDY . . . . . . smary' . O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O COMPARISON CI ACCELERATES AND NGN-AECELERATES BY OVERALL ACADEMIC AClflEVEMENT . . . . . . . . . . Accelerates and Non-Accelerates Starting and Finishing at M. S. C. . . . . . . . . . . . . Men and Women Accelerates and Non-Accelerates. Transfer Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . COMPARISON OF WITHDRAWAL AND CRADUATED ACCELERATE Al‘lD NQN-ACCELERATE STUDEI‘ITS o o o o o o o o o o o smary o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o ACCELERATION IN BASIC COLLEGE COURSES AND GRADES IN SUBSI‘LU ENT PEELATED C'UUIISES o 0 o o o o o 0 o o smary o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o e o o EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES . . . . . . . . . . . Activites and Offices Held . . . . . . . . . . Men and'Nomen Accelerates and Non-Accelerates. Fraternity-Sorority Membership . . . . . . . . Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . REASONS FOR ACCELERATING OR NAT ACCELERATING. . . Reasons for Accelerating . . . . . . . . . . . Reasons for not Accelerating . . . . . . . . . Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE ODFJF’ IO 12 13 3b n 116 57 59 59 65 b9 95 97 112 113 125 127 133 1118 151 153 156 165 172 CHAPTER IX MISCELLANEOUS CONSIDERATIONS ON ACCELERATION . Previous Acceleration . . . . . . . . . . Methods of Study Used to Prepare for Taking Comprehensive Examinations . . . . . . . Age of Accelerates and Non-Accelerates . X SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS . Summary of Findings . . . . . . . . . . . Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Recommendations for Further Study . . . . SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . APPEIEIX O O O O O O O O O 0 O O O Q 0 O O O O O O 0 PAGE 17h 17h 176 17 7 178 178 18b 190 193 195 TABLES I. II. III. IV. V. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. LIST OF TABLES Percentage of Students in Each Grade Classification of the Comprehensive Examinations, Spring, 19h8 . . . General Information Concerning Acceleration of June, 1953, Four-Year Graduates from Michigan State Gonege 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 Means and Standard Deviations of Grade Point Averages for Accelerates and Non-Accelerates (Four-Year S tUdent S) O 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 O 0 O O 0 Significance of Distribution Differences for Acceler- ate and Non-Accelerate Four-Year Students who Graduate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comparison of Means and Standard Deviations of Grade Point Averages for All Accelerates, Accelerates of all Possible Courses, and all Non-Accelerates . . . . Medians of A.C.E. Psychological Test and Reading Test Ranking by Deciles Ior Accelerates, Nonchcel- erates, and Accelerates of all Possible Courses . . . Chi Square Test - Relationship between Being Accel- erates or Non-Accelerates and Total A.C.E. Psycho- logical Test Scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chi Square Test - Relationship between Being Accel- erates or Non-Accelerates and Total Reading Score . . Chi Square Test - Relationship between Total Score on A.C.E. Test and Being Accelerates of all Possible Courses or Non-Accelerates . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chi Square Test - Relationship between Total Score on Reading Test and Being Accelerates of all POSsible COurSGS OI‘ NOD-41006181231368 o o o o o o o o o o O o 0 Means and Standard.Deviation of Grade Point Averages by Sex for Accelerates and Non-Accelerates . . . . . Test of Significance, Means of Grade Point Averages of Men and Women, Accelerates and Non-Accelerates . . PAGE 31 70 7O 72 79 8O 81 82 83 86 67 . I I - I - - . . . I - . . I l o I . I I A I v I A I - :- I — I . - I . . - u - I I I - a I . I u . . - . . I - . I TABLES XIII. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XXII. XXIII. XXIV. XXV. General Information Concerning Acceleration for Transfer Students Graduating in June, 1953, at MiChigan State COllege o o o o o o o o o o o o 0 Comparison of Grade Point Averages of Accelerate and NoneAccelerate Transfers and Four-Year Students 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 O O O 0 0 Significance of Grade Point Averages for Accel- erate and Non-Accelerate Transfer Students who Graduate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . General Information about Withdrawal Accelerates and Nonchcelerates Entering as Freshmen in Fail-1,191.19 00000000000000.0000. Withdrawal of Accelerates and Non-Accelerates by Years 0 O 0 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O Chfi Square Test - Relationship between Years in School Before Leaving and Being an Accelerate OI'Non-Accelerate................. Chi Square Test - Relationship between Graduating and Being an Accelerate or NoneAccelerate . . . . . 'Withdrawal of Accelerates of All Possible Courses and NoneAccelerates by Years . . . . . . . . . . . Chi Square Test - Relationship between Years in School Before Leaving and Being an Accelerate of all Possible Courses or a Non-Accelerate . . . . . Chi Square Test - Relationship between Graduating and Being an Accelerate of all Possible Courses or aNon-Accelera‘be................. Grade Point Averages of Accelerate Graduates and Withdrawals O O 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 Grade Point Averages of Non-Accelerate Graduates and Withdrawals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Distribution of Sample for Two-Term Accelerates and Non-Accelerates by Courses for Comparison of Basic College and Upper-School Grades . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 91 9b 9b 99 100 101 102 106 107 108 110 110 120 u u . - A A n _ . a — . o 0 ‘- c 'I . c a . l TABLES XXVI. XXVII. XXVIII. XXX. XXXI. XXXII. XXXIII. XXXI . XXXV. XXXVII. XXXVIII. Grades of Two-Term Accelerates and NoneAccelerates in Basic College Courses and Related Upper-School Gomses O O O 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 O O O O O O 0 Chi Square Test - Relationship between Basic College Grades and Acceleration or NoneAcceleration . . . . . . Chi Square Test - Relationship between Upper-School Grades and Acceleration or Non-Acceleration . . . . . . Chi Square Test - Relationship between Number of Activities and Acceleration or Non-Acceleration . . . . Chi Square Test - Relationship between Number of Offices Held and Acceleration or Non-Acceleration . . . Chi Square Test - Relationship between Number of Activities and Acceleration of all Possible Courses or Men-Acceleration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chi Square Test - Relationship between Number of Offices Held and Acceleration of all Possible Courses OI‘ Non‘Acceleration o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 0 Chi Square Test - Relationship between Number of Activities and Acceleration of all Possible Courses (2 or more Courses) or Non-Acceleration . . . . . . . . Median of Number of Activities and Offices Held by Accelerates and Non-Accelerates . . . . . . . . . . . Summary of Chi Square Tests - Relationship between Numbers of Activities and Offices Held and Being an Accelerate by Various Groupings or a.Non- Accelerate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Medians of Numbers of Activities and Offices Held by Men and Nemen Accelerates and NoneAccelerates . . . Fraternity and Sorority Membership - Accelerates and Non—Accelerates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chi Square Tests of Independence on Accelerate and Non- Accelerate Fraternity and Sorority Membership . . . . . PAGE 121 123 12A 135 138 IAO 11:1 1113 11:11 1M: 1146 1119 lb? XLI. PAGE Frequency of Reasons Given by Students for Accelex‘ating o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o .LS7-158 Frequency of Reasons for Not Accelerating Given by all Those who Did Not Accelerate in All Possible Courses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167-168 Methods Used by Accelerates to Prepare for Comprehensive Examinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 ..................... ------------- FIGURE 1. 2. 3. A. b. 7. 8. 9. 11. 12. 13. LIST OF FIGURES Comparison of Accelerates and Non-Accelerates Freshman Grade Point Averages . . . . . . . . . . . . Comparison of Accelerates and Non-Accelerates Sophomore Grade Point Averages . . . . . . . . . . . Comparison of Accelerates and Non-Accelerates Junior Grade Point Averages . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comparison of Accelerates and Non-Accelerates Senior Grade Point Averages . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comparison of Accelerates of all Courses Possible and NonPAccelerates - Freshman Grade Point Averages . Comparison of Accelerates of all Courses Possible and Non-Accelerates - Sophomore Grade Point Averages. Comparison of Accelerates of All Courses Possible and Non-Accelerates - Junior Grade Point Averages . . Comparison of Accelerates of all Courses Possible and Non-Accelerates - Senior Grade Point Averages . . Comparison of Accelerate and Non-Accelerate Junior Grade Point Averages - Transfer Students . . . . . . Comparison of Accelerate and Non-Accelerate Senior Grade Point Averages - Transfer Students . . . . . . M. S. C. Student Activity Record Card (Side One). . . M. S. C. Student Activity Record Card (Side Two). . . Numbers of Activities in which Students Participated - Accelerates vs. NonpAccelerates . . . . . . . . . . . Number of Offices Held - Accelerates vs. Non- Accelerates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 63 6h 65 66 7b 7b 75 75 93 93 129 13b . 136 . _ _ . . _ .. . . . . . . . v . . I . . . . . CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Introduction One of the constantly recurring problems in higher education in the United States concerns the merits and drawbacks of acceleration.by students capable of more rapid progress in college than is ordinarily expected. This problem is the result of the typical pattern of study in colleges and universities in this country whicn has developed over the years and which, seemingly, has become almost inviolate. The four- year basic curriculum and the awarding of degrees to those who have at- tended enough classes and passed enough courses to get the requisite credits for a degree is certainly not based on the abilities of the superior college student. How to better aid the superior student to take best advantage of his opportunities in college has been the sub- ject of much argument and some study over the years. One such discussion of the problem is that of T. R. RcConnell of the University of Buffalo.1 He is galled by the lack of consideration for the superior student. Acceleration is advocated as a principal means of breaking the tradition of progression by class and age. By the time the student has passed early adolescence McConnell feels that the social and emotional maladjustments which might result are few, and that the values to be gained in releasing superior students from repetitive and non-challenging subject matter are many. His argument that there 1 T: R. MCConnell, "Some Unsolved Problems of Secondary Educa- tion", The North Central Association Quarterly. 27, (January, 1953), pp. 258-660 is much overlap between advanced secondary courses and elementary college courses is backed by several studies, to be later discussed in detail. His views are shared by many others, including college teachers in professional curricula who see their students losing time which could be much more profitably devoted to more advanced study. Various means of attacking the problem of helping the superior student to better utilize his time and abilities have been outlined re- cently by Dr. Leo Haak. He says the means are five: (1) Do nothing, since superior students will get more out of each course and so profit totally, (2) Each instructor hold his students responsible for working up to their full capacities, thus having differential standards, (3) Use enriched sections for more capable students, (h) Waive elementary courses, provided each student can prove his competence by examination in any course, (5) Give students full credit for courses which they pass by ex- amination.1 To these must be added the additional means of allowing superior students to take extra credits, or of lengthening the school year. The superior student is ordinarily thought of as being one wno learns more rapidly, who has greater native ability. However, by def- inition a superior student may also be one who uses his abilities better and perhaps, for certain areas of college study, has had better back- ground and greater knowledge of the particular subject. Thus, acceler- ation in college may be concerned not only with attemption to better benefit the student with the high 1.0., but also with benefiting the 1 Leo Haak, "Acceleration by Examination", College and University. 29, (Oct., 1953), pp. 39-h0. student who has had elsewhere certain experiences which are covered in certain college courses. As previously mentioned, there are in many college curricula required courses which some students may have covered adequately in secondary school. Such courses as College Algebra or Chemistry in an engineering curriculum are examples. Most attempts at acceleration of superior students in American colleges and universities have concerned themselves with waiving ele- mentary courses, usually when an examination is passed satisfactorily, with allowing students having high averages to take increased course loads, and with lengthening the school year. These can be done readily with a minimum of upset oi the status quo. There have been those colleges and universities, however, which have attacked the problem from one or more 01 the other aspects of acceleration, particularly that of examina- tion for credit without attendance in class being necessary. This has not always been a popular approach since there are those in colleges who object to acceleration by this method, even for superior students. They argue that there are certain basic attitudes, positions, and points of view offered in courses which students may not get without classroom experience. These, they say, cannot be properly measured by an examina- tion, especially by objective examinations so commonly given to large classes. There are enough values to be gained from class attendance to warrant requiring that the student take all courses. A system of acceleration by examination for credit is in use at Michigan State College, and it is proposed to look at some of its effects in this study. In l9hh, Michigan State College set up a set of seven core courses of three terms each organized into a Basic College. The courses included were Written and Spoken English, Biological Science, -3- J Physical Science, Social Science, Effective Living, History of Civiliz- ation, and Literature and Fine Arts. All students who came to Michigan State College were enrolled in the Basic College and were required to take at least five of these area courses as a requisite to graduation. Each course consisted of three terms of three credits, a total of nine credits. These courses were passed off by satisfactorily answering comprehensive examinations covering the three terms“work in each course. It was inherent in the philosophy of the Basic College at Michigan State College that all students would be given this core of courses to provide a broad understanding of the world about them. This was in line in l9hh with a trend toward General Education across the country. ‘Whether this is being well accomplished at Michigan State College will not be argued here. Along with this philosophy went a recognition that not all students needed to take the full course content because of pre- vious background or mental ability to assimilate rapidly and perhaps without formal courses. Dr. Haaquuotes from the minutes of the organ- izing committee for the Basic College a remark by Dr. Lloyd Reeves2 con- cerning the use of comprehensive examinations in the proposed program: "If a student has a broad enough and deep enough previous experience in one or more of the core areas, he should be given college credit. . . determined in operation by a Board of Examiners." Dr. Reeves further says that this Board could consider such factors as high school record, intelligence quotient, and aptitudes as shown by a testing program. Quoting Dr. Reeves further: "The brilliant student or one of advanced ¥ 1 Ibid., p. bl 2 Educational consultant to the College. 4,- age, should be permitted to pass rapidly through his undergraduate work. . .In the case of returning veterans, chronological age, plus intelligence, plus achievement. . .Army (Navy) training courses and experience. . .(should be generously evaluated in allowing them to meet college requirements)." Dr. Reeves's suggestions were accepted substantially as presented. Thus acceleration by comprehensive exam- ination became a part of the basic policy of the Basic College.1 Students who had achieved at a proper grade level at a certain point in the first term of a Basic College course, or at a slightly lower level at a similar time in the second term, with certain other minor reservations to be fully discussed later, were permitted, if they chose, to take the comprehensive examination at the end of either of these terms.2 If the examination was successfully passed with a C or better, credit was received in the entire course with the grade earned in the comprehensive examination. Also instituted with the Basic College and its seven courses was a Board of Examiners, administratively separate from the basic College, whose principal duty was to construct the comprehensive examinations for each course in conjunction with the teaching staff of that course. These comprehensive examinations in most courses were objective in nature (exceptions were in some areas of Communication Skills). 1 It might be noted in passing that this is not the only method used in the Basic College at Michigan State College for acceleration of capable students. Special seminar sections to cover two or sometimes three terms of work in one term have been given to prepare students to take the comprehensive examination before the end of three terms. 2 A detailed discussion of all the requirements in each Basic College course is found in Appendix A. It might be pointed out here that the course arrangement, in fact the actual number of courses given, has undergone considerable change over the years.1 However, the structure of the Basic College remained relatively stable during the time a very large proportion of the students included in this study originally enrolled in the Basic College and took these courses. Hence, any subsequent changes have had little effect on the results of this study. it was deemed necessary to choose a group so that they might be followed through four years to graduation, as will subsequently be apparent. As a further part of their duties, the Board of Examiners also con- tinually tries to evaluate the system of examinations and its ramific- ations. It was from thinking by the Board of Examiners concerning the students who accelerated these basic courses as compared to those who did not accelerate that the suggestion was made through Dr. Paul Dressel, head of the Board of Examiners, that a study be made con- cerning these accelerates. This study, as a result of this suggestion, attempts to obtain a profile of the accelerates at Micnigan State College, a cross section of their accomplishments and characteristics. Comparison is made to non—accelerates who could have accelerated but chose not to do so. The sample chosen was the class graduating from l The organization was changed in 1953 to four courses, Communic- ation Skills, 9 credits, natural Science, 12 credits, Social Science, 12 credits, and Humanities, 12 credits. Communication Skills is not changed. Natural Science includes the former Biological Science and Physical Science, Social Science includes the former Social Science and Effective Living, and Humanities includes former History of Civilization and Liter- ature and Fine Arts. Literature and Fine Arts as such is now given in the School of Science and Arts. Students are now required to take all four of these new Basic College Courses. Michigan State College in June, 1953. Thus, a representative large and fairly homogeneous group who had been offered the opportunity to accelerate could be analyzed. The purpose of this investigation, then, is to attempt answers to such questions as these which are concerned with students who accelerate by examination in the Basic College at Michigan State College: 1. Are the students who accelerate by examination superior academically to those who do not? To eliminate the obvious group who could not accelerate because they did not perform scholastically up to the standard necessary to even attempt acceleration, the comparison of acceler- ates is better made with that group of students who could have accelerated because they met the requirements but chose not to do so. 2. Do these accelerating students suffer in future special- ized courses in the fields related to the Basic College courses? 3. Do those who accelerate by examination tend to stay in school longer, and do more of them graduate, than do those who choose not to accelerate? h. Do those who accelerate participate to the same degree or to a greater degree in extra-curricular or co-curricular activities than do those not accelerating? This particip- ation is used as a measure of an aggressive personality by some investigators who feel that those who accelerate demonstrate this aggressiveness by out-of—class activities. 5. 'Why do students accelerate by examination or not accelerate when they have the opportunity? 6. Are the accelerates as a group younger or older than the non-accelerates? 7. Have the accelerates previously accelerated in secondary or elementary school? To sum up, then, is it possible to establish differences in the per— formance of the accelerates, or any particular group of accelerates, from performances of non-accelerates which might be of benefit in answering some of the questions of desirability of accelerating or not accelerating by examination for credit? Since acceleration in its various ramifications has been studied elsewhere, sometimes rather extensively, it is to be expected that answers to some of these questions have been arrived at for other groups. However, the situation at Michigan State is peculiar in its means of providing a fairly liberal opportunity for acceleration and in the specific means of accomplishing it. In order to Obtain a complete picture of these accelerates it seems necessary that answers to these questions be sought here. Consequently the hypotheses that follow are tested in this study. Major Hypotheses 1. Students at Michigan State College who accelerate Basic College courses by examination are significantly superior academically throughout their college careers to fellow students who do not accelerate but are eligible to do so. -8- 2. Accelerates stay in school significantly longer and significantly greater number of accelerates graduate than do non-accelerates. 3. Students who accelerate by examination in Basic College courses do as well in subsequent closely associated specialized courses as those who do not accelerate but have equal ability. h. Those who accelerate Basic College courses by examination participate significantly more in extra- and co-curricular activities in college than do those who do not accelerate these courses but could do so. These are the major hypotheses investigated. Each of these major hypotheses becomes a chapter in this report. A chapter is also included on the fifth question, “Rhy'do students accelerate by examination or not accelerate when they have the opportunity?" In addition, to round out the picture, some minor data have been gathered and analyzed, and will be presented in Chapter IX, titled Miscellaneous Considerations. Briefly they are concerned with the age of the accelerates and non- accelerates, previous acceleration, and how students prepare to accelerate. This report, then, gives the findings based on investigation of these hypotheses. The procedures generally involve the use of samples of accelerates and of those non—accelerates who met the conditions for acceleration. These are picked from the entire class graduating in June, 1953, with the exception of those graduating in Veterinary Medicine. The latter group was eliminated since they take a six-year course and gain a 8.8. degree along the way and hence are not comparable in progress to the rest of the class. The records of the Registrar at Michigan State College were the source of information for academic work on those sampled. This provided the principal material for investigation of the hypotheses. To get information to answer question five and those contained in Chapter IX, Miscellaneous Considerations, a questionnaire was sent to those chosen for the sample. The responses provide the material for the analyses presented. The specific procedures of analysis for each hypothesis are presented in detail in each chapter which covers the subject of a major hypothesis. To further clarify tne report, Chapter III on general procedures and sample selection is presented. The results of the study are evaluated in terms of the original purpose, that of obtaining a profile of accelerates at Michigan State College, and in terms of the findings on the tested hypotheses, in Chapter X. Recommendations are included, and limitations pointed out. Relationships of these results to those of previous studies are attempted where possible to complete the picture. Summary The purpose of this stud; is to obtain a profile of a typical group of those students at Michigan State College who accelerate by examination in the Basic College courses. This profile will include their scholastic achievements, their success in later courses, their extra—curricular activities, their reactions to the acceleration process, and such other considerations as their age level, and their reasons for accelerating -10- or not accelerating. The accelerates will be compared to a similar group who had the opportunity to accelerate but chose not to do so. From.this comparison it is hoped to obtain a picture concerning accel- eration in a typical class at Michigan State College, how it affected the students, how they used it, why they used it. hypotheses are pre- sented for testing. -11- .lllulnn 11I1...1|.1.11|. :- u. . 1|..1lll. r CHAPTER II PREVIOUS STUDIES AND PRACTICES IN ACCELERATION IN AMFRICAN COLLEGES AKD UNIVERSITIES In spite of a rather universal recognition of the need for doing something to help the superior student realize his full capabilities in American Colleges, educational research into methods of implement- ation of this need has been rather limited. Americans, and college educators no less, seem to be inclined to preserve the status quo in their institutions while making very rapid strides in things material. There have been enough experiments tried and studies reported, however, to provide a substantial background on which to base the present study, and on Which to lean in interpreting present results. Since this study 15 particularly concerned with acceleration by examination without taking the complete course,1this will be the emphasis in this review of previous findings. To complete the picture, however, a short resume of work done on all types of acceleration and on such acceleration factors as age is offered. Two very complete reviews of previous work in acceleration of college students have recently been written. Sidney L. Pressey in l9h9 published a monograph on educational acceleration at Ohio State 2 University, describing in detail the work done not only at Ohio State l Acceleration by examination will henceforth be used in the sense of having taken at least part of the course, not to mean complete acceleration without any attendance. 2 Sidney L. Pressey, Educational Acceleration; Appraisal and Basic Problems. Columbus: The Bureau of Educational Research, Ohio State University, l9h9, lh8 pp. but elsewhere. In a doctoral thesis at Michigan State College in 1951, J. Oliver halllreviewed experiences in acceleration of students in American Colleges. Dr. hall states in a lootnote: "A iuch 01 this chapter on previous studies in acceleration is based on the only thorough work on the subject," Dr. Pressey's publication. hall's detailed analysis, however, has been extremely useful in the present analysis. Acceleration By Examination Acceleration by examination can be done in several ways. At one extreme is the practice of allowing students to waive a course without credit, at the other the practice of giving credit for courses by examination without having taken the course at all. Somewhere in between lies the principal practice in the system presently under study, where a portion of the course may be passed off by examination, the student having taken a portion of the course before being allowed to attempt acceleration. Presumably the idea of encouraging the latter is to obtain some positive measure of the student's proficiency before allow- ing attempted acceleration. This had not been the prevalent method of acceleration by examination in other colleges. It arose at Michigan State from the University of Chicago system originally instituted in 1931. The Committee which planned the Basic College and the testing system may have had in mind that the drastic change from the traditional college,such as Michigan State had been, to one with a progressive program of general education required that the program stop one step l J. Oliver hall, A Study oi' Acceleration Methods in basic College Social Science, Unpublished Ed. D. Thesis: Michigan State ColLege, 1951: 223 pp. -13- short of encouraging the use of the examination for credit without any class attendance. (Theoretically it is possible for a student to request permission to take a course examination without having enrolled in the course for any work, but since no course entrance examinations are given to entering freshmen at Michigan State College, this permission becomes a remote possibility.) Or it may have been believed that having the students begin the course before permitting acceleration was a better evaluation of the student's ability to accelerate. The extent of acceleration by examination is rather limited as shown by a war-time study made by Eckelberry.1 A questionnaire was sent to 752 institutions of higher learning in the United States. Of LBS replies concerning acceleration by examination, only 55 (13 percent) indicated that any such acceleration was in use. While some of these institutions were using the method as a war measure, "a large number were at pains to point out that they do regularly permit these examin- ationst“ In some cases these institutions restrict the number of credits but allow academic progress. further, in hl institutions less than 5% of the students were estimated to have earned any substantial credit in this manner. Hence, by any standard the number of institutions encouraging this practice would be small. It is expected, then, that the number of studies made on acceleration by examination, whatever the system used, will be few. A digest of the experiences of these 1 E. H. Eckelberry, "Acceleration in College," Journal of Higher Edllcationo lb (April, 191.13), p. 1760 institutions principally concerned with acceleration by examination is included in the next few pages. The University of Chicago had begun in 1931 a comprehensive exam- ination system for its core courses including acceleration by exam- ination. In 1938, it revised this system. High school credits were no longer the criterion for acceptance. Rather, the University gave entrance tests and used them as a means of judging fitness for entrance to the University. Tyler's comment on these entrance tests is enlightening: the faculty "has become increasingly convinced that although tests and examinations are not periect measures 01 educational competence they are considerably more valid and dependable, than are course records and credits submitted from a variety of institutions, representing a variety of programs, a variety of instructors, a variety of students."1 As concrete evidence Tyler cites a correlation of r = 0.72 (average) between score on the comprehensive examinations in the College, the basic school at the University of Chicago, and the success in advanced divisional work at Chicago, whereas average grades made in courses among a variety of institutions give correlations With the advanced courses at Chicago of about O.bO. As a culmination of this entrance examination system, in 19h2 the University of Chicago instituted the revised Bacnelor of Arts degree and used placement examinations in order to fit students into proper courses commensurate with their abilities and knowledge in certain fields and thus properly place them as to progress toward the degree l Ralph.w. Tyler, "Placement Tests as a Means of Determining Advanced Standing at the University of Chicago", Journal of American Association of Collegiate Registrars. 20 (July, 1955): Po 522. -15- in the College. It might be mentioned here that the College is so constructed that students normally ready for their third year in high school may enter if examinations show their fitness. The College is designed as a course in general education around three sequences in English, the humanities, and social science, plus four“year sequences in mathematics and natural science. Further, a course is given in observation, interpretation, and integration, designed as a capstone for all these fields. The Bacnelor of arts degree is given after four years or its equivalent by acceleration through either comprehensive examinations or placement tests. The level of achievement in these acceleration examinations is about the same as that necessary to satisfactorily complete somewhat comparable examinations at Michigan State. A grade of at least a C or in some cases a high D is required, while Michigan State required a C or higher at the time the students used in this study were taking Basic College examinations. This has since been raised to B or higher at M.S.C. The basic thinking behind the University of Chicago's grade level is given by Bloom and Allison, examiners: The specification of a minimal standard of achievement does seem to be defensible in connection with general education, where the attempt is to insure that eacn citizen will have at least a minimal competence in certain general fields. Inga specialiy it might be more justifiable to 1n51st on maximum achievement. Normal course grade required is D or higher on the comprehensive exam- ination at Chicago and at Michigan State when not accelerating. 1 Benjamin Bloom and Jane Allison, "Developing a College Placement Test Program", The Journal of General Education. 3 (April, l9h9), p. 213. -16- I. .I.|.|. |1||. . The practice used at Chicago concerning level of competence to pass the comprehensive examination is further illustrated in the treat- ment of those students who narrowly fail to pass acceleration exam- inations. These are brought up to the proper competence level by attending classes in areas of weakness, by reading recommended books, or by taking special courses, according to Hall.1 This is in contrast to the procedure at Michigan State, where they are enrolled in the next term of the course which they failed to accelerate by examination. Several studies have been made by Bloom and co—workers on students who have made use of the Chicago system in the College. Bloom and 'Ward show a very favorable comparison of these graduates to the country- wide norms on the Graduate hecord Examination.2 A typical group of about one-third of those graduating from the College in June, 1952 took two parts of the advanced tests in this examination of their own choos- ing in addition to the general tests. For all the examination four-fifths or more of the College graduates exceeded the median for senior students included in the norms for the Graduate Record Examination. In four of the tests of general education, 96 percent or more of the College graduates exceed the median for seniors everywhere, while in the remaining four 86 percent or more exceed the median. In the General Education Index, an average of General Education performance, the College graduates had 99 percent not only above the median but above l J. Oliver Hall, 22. 232., p. 38. 2 B. S. Bloom and I. C. Ward, "The Chicago Bachelor of Arts Degree After Ten Years,9 Journal of Higher Education. 22 (fl9, December, 1952) ppoh59~b67. ' -17- the 70th percentile of the national norms. Also in the advanced tests of special knowledge Bloom says that the graduates of the College "exhibit a level of competence in a number of specific disciplines which is usually thought to be attainable only through the usual undergraduate major." it must, however, be remembered that these graduates are a selected group, though younger than the average grad- uating senior by about two years. Bloom says that they were at about the 86th percentile on the American Council on Education Psychological Examination on entrance, probably well above the scores on this test made by seniors over the country who constitute the norm for the Graduate Record Examination. The above results do indicate that this system involving a good deal of acceleration by examination for credit is not producing an inferior end product. Other studies made on the records of students in the College at Chicago show that, where partial competence is indicated by placement tests in a certain area, these students do very well indeed on the comprehensive examination.when they take it after advice on iurther preparation. Seventy percent of these students made grades of A or B on the relevant comprehensives, as contrasted with 26 percent of the total group of college students taking these examinations. Only three percent oi the students given advice on the compre- hensive examination received grades of D or F, as contrasted with 21 percent of the total population. These results would seem to indicate that the placement procedures for this group were more than Justified by the large proportion of the students who made high grades. it is evident that some students when -18.. given the proper advice and counsel can complete requirements at a very high level with much less than the usual amount of study and preparation.1 The same study shows that students who were excused from the first year in a field because of their placement examination grade do about as well as those who took the comprehensive examination, When they take the succeeding year of the field.2 A slightly higher percentage of those excused got grades of A and B, 35 percent compared to 29 per- cent for the regular college group, but 22 percent made D and F compared to 21 percent D and F for the regular group. The comment is made by the authors that the large percentage of D and F grades "may be regarded as some indication that these accelerated students did not profit as much from the placement procedures as might be expected."3 Hall's comment is that "these students, too, would profit from the preparation resulting from being required to take the comprehensive for the first year's work." The emphasis on acceleration results in a shortening of time necessary to graduate from the College, a point not stressed in the present study of Michigan State College. In fact, students entering 1 Jane M. Allison and Benjamin 8. Bloom, "The Operation and Evaluation of a College Placement Test PrOgram," The Journal of General Education. u (April 1, 1950), p. 231. 2 Ibid., p. 231. 3. Ibid., p. 232. h J. Oliver Hall, 2p. git., p. 39. 1-19- after 12 years of schooling generally take longer than do those enter- ing after ten years.1 While the Michigan State College system of acceleration in the Basic College was undoubtedly influenced by the University of Chicago system (Dr. Floyd Reeves, then Professor of Education at the University of Chicago was consultant to the organizing Committee),wide differences in the use of the system have developed. Chicago's use of acceleration goes a good deal further than does that at Hichigan State College in attempting to allow students to move along the academic path at the pace they can tolerate, as measured by the accelerating examinations. In fact, most present thinking at Michigan State is to tighten up the comprehensive examination requirements, as snown by a preliminary statement of recommendations made by a committee in the Basic College appointed to examine acceleration.2 This committee would slightly raise the present general minimum requirements for taking the comprehensive examination at the end of second term. At present a first-term grade of B and a B at the time of application to accelerate the second term is required. They would make this a first-term A or B and an.A at the time of application or a first—term grade of A and B at time of decision in all departments. Even this suggestion has met with a 1 Jane Allison andnBenjamin Bloom, "The Operation and Evaluation of a College Placement Test Program," The Journal of General Education. h (April, 1950), p. 232. 2 Russell F. link, Oral Communication. Dr. link is Chairman of this Committee appointed by Dean Clifford Erickson of the Basic College in 19530 -20- good deal of opposition in favor of more rigid standards. Further study of other methods of acceleration such as pre-tests and special sections is being considered. A number of other American colleges and universities have used credit by examination as a means of acceleration. Noteworthy among these is Ohio State University. Pressey has reviewed this program in some detail. He points out that for many years it has been a rule at Ohio State that upon approval by University authorities a student could take an examination for work done in any field represented by an author- ized course ofiering, "and be given credit for the course if he has received the grade of at least B on the examination."1 There is no examination fee and up to 30 quarter credit—hours may be so obtained. In addition,entering freshmen are all given an English Placement test during freshman week. The highest 15 percent automatically receive five hours credit in the first course in English. The Department of Romance Languages has used credit by examination to place advanced students. Certain other freshman subjects such as chemistry and mathematics also use tests given at the beginning of the courses to allow students with high scores “some" credit. A study of the system employed in the Department of Chemistry showed that students given credit for satisfactorily passing the pre—test did very well in a following sequence of courses. A's and B's represented over 81 percent of all grades in l S. L. Pressey, pp. 233., pp.l23-128. -21... the second course in chemistry, with A's being 51 percent, for 365 students representing the years l939-l9h5.1 A feature of the chemistry program, mentioned by Pressey as being admirable, is that a booklet is sent by Ohio State to entering students which contains a statement telling briefly the topics covered in the examination, so that students and high school teachers may have some guidance in preparation. Credit by examination was used rather extensively as a means of acceleration at Ohio State. Of those graduating in l9hl-h2, 18 per- cent of men graduates did some of this type of accelerating and two percent accelerated more than l0 hours. Twenty-seven percent of the women students also did some accelerating by examination while 5 per- cent received credit for more than 1C hours. This method of acceler- ation was not as popular as that of attending summer sessions, but was used to a greater extent than was the means of taking heavier course loads. About twice as many students used attendance at summer sessions as took credits by examination, but more than twice as many used the latter as took heavier course loads. The reader will subsequently be able to compare these percentages of acceleration by examination with those of the class graduating in 1953 at Michigan State College (Chapter IV, p. 60). Another study by Pressey concerning outcomes of the Ohio State system of credit by examination was made on those non-transfer students l lbid, p. 125. Pressey quotes from a study made by A. B. Garrett of the Department of Chemistry. 2 Sidney L. Pressey, pp. £33., p. 12?. -22- who had some examination credit from l9hl through l9hh. Their final median point—hour ratio was 3.0 (B) as compared to 2.6h for all graduates. Two percent had 15 credits or more by examination; their median point-hour ratio was 3.26. Pressey's interpretation is that examination by credit "is not tending to move students ahead into work they cannot manage." Rather, he says, this method of acceleration "stimulates good work in high school (the result of knowing about and studying for elementary college courses); is good for student morale, and furthers the interest of good students, Whereas to re- quire them to study again what they already know would be deadly." Student opinion solicited in the study also supported this view. The University of Buffalo was interested enough in credit by exam- ination to do a good deal of work and publish rather extensively on it during the 1930's. The particular approach was that of eliminating articulation or over-lap between high school and college offerings. Some fourteen volumes were published on this general subject.1 These studies were made to ascertain the effectiveness of a program for fostering credit by examination for superior students. high school graduates could obtain college credits by examination on entrance when recommended by their high school instructors. To aid high school students toward passing these examinations, the University provided a syllabus which stated the nature and purpose of the course, an 1 Studies in Articulation of High School and College, with Special Reference to the Superior Student. ed. by Edward S. Jones, Buffalo: University of Buffalo. l93h-l936. -23- outline of course content, and the standards of accomplishment expected. Aided by this and helped by high school teachers,the students thus could take these examinations with a good idea of what to expect. 1 Some of the results obtained, according to Pressey, were these: 1. 2. 3. Of L66 superior high school students who took 726 of these examinations concerning such diverse courses as accounting, economics, English, French, 3erman, history, college algebra, trigonometry, hysics, and psychology, 60 percent passed (1936). An earlier study of fewer students showed the same percentage (1933). In subsequent studies at the University of Buffalo, the group as a whole, and particularly those who passed nine or more semester hours by examination, was distinctly superior to the entire freshman class in the average grade point status earned. Also the work of those taking credit by examination showed a tendency to be slightly better in those fields in which the special examination were taken than in other subjects. Their instructors indicated that these students "seem to suffer no disability when they begin advanced courses in college without taking prerequisite work in the same institution.9 The students themselves, when asked if they were handicapped in any way in the advanced work by reason of not having the more elementary course, replied "overwhelmingly in the negative.9 l S. L. Pressey, op. cit.,p. 12h. -2h- Antioch College at Yellow Springs, Ohio, requires achievement examinations of all students in five areas: social sciences, physical sciences, life sciences, humanities, and communications. Students are required to take only one course in each area, but they must pass the examination with at least a B grade or all the courses must be taken. Thus they can, by passing the examinations, pass off the equivalent of one and one-half years ofczollege work. Reporting a study on the class graduating in l9h7-h8, Dole and Churchilll’ 2find the average senior had eliminated by achievement examination four required courses, more than one-half year's work. A very high correlation (r = 0.86) was found between number of credits earned by examination and the index on the Graduate Record Examination for those completing the achievement examining program and taking the terminal integrating examinations required of all (of which the Graduate Record Examination was a part). Another finding of the study was that, when comparing a group of students who had taken a minimum number of required courses (6 to 8) to another group taking a maximum number (12 to 1b), the minimum group (those accelerating by examination) had significantly higher scores on standardized tests of aptitude and achievement on entering college, made better grades throughout their academic careers, and were superior to the maximum group on the Graduate Record Examination taken in the 1 Arthur Dole and Ruth Churchill, "Credit Where Credit is Due," Journal of Higher Education. 21 (1950), pp. 299-30t, 336. 2 Arthur Dole, "Evidence of the Effectiveness of a Program of Giving College Credits by Examination," Educational & Psycholqgical Measurement. 1 (1951), pp. 387-96. senior year. Dole concludes that it is technically possible to construct examinations which effectively identify qualified students, and that these Antioch examinations do so. While most writers list the advantages of the credit-by-examination system to the student, Dole and Churchilllgive advantages of their system to Antioch College, as follows: 1. It allows more students to attend Antioch without expansion of staff or facilities. 2. Some students can graduate in less time. 3. Fewer sections for large required courses are necessary. More students are placed in advanced-level courses which can absorb them. h. Evidence indicates that the examinations succeed surprisingly well in raising academic standards. .— ln a manner reminiscent of the University of Buffalo's experiments 2 on high school-college overlap, Turney and Lee selected a group of entering freshmen at Fort Mayes State College, hansas, divided them into exempted and non-exempted groups in four freshman survey courses, on the basis of the Henmon-Nelson Test of Mental Ability for Grades 7-12, Form A, and the Iowa High School Content Examination in the four areas. They then traced them through a year in courses of the same areas for grades achieved. 1 A. A. Dole and R. Churchill, op. EEE" p. 307. 2. Austin H. Turney and bloyd E. Lee, "An Experiment in Exempting Qualified Freshmen from Beginning College Courses," Educational Admin— istration and Supervision. 21 (1935), Pp. 33h-hh. -26- From these results they concluded: 1. There is need for more adequate standards of achievement both for entry and for advancement. Since the averages of the exempted group were better at the beginning than the averages of the non-exempted group were at the end on the tests in these areas, why should any of the exempted group have taken the course in the first place? 2. If the achievement of the major portion of the non-exempted group at the end of the year's work was satisiactory to justify continuation on a degree, the data indicate that exemption of the other group was justified whether they took the course or not. 3. A good deal of assimilation of knowledge from the college environment occurred, without taking the courses. Cains were made by the exempted students. b. Mental ability should be emphasized in the development of these students as shown by the results. The students with higher I.Q's definitely did better as a group when exempted. This study and those at the University of Buffalo, Chicago, and Ohio State indicate strongly that the better students among incoming freshmen are capable of adequately passing and obtaining credit for at least some of the freshman courses in college, and further, that they suffer no ill effects in subsequent college courses. Development of an adequate testing program to seek them out, since they come from a variety of secondary school backgrounds, is, of course, a necessary -27- adjunct to allowing them to attempt examinations and receive credit, as emphasized in most of these studies. 1 Pressey mentions briefly some other institutions which grant credit by examination, with no mention of studies made about them. Registrar Tuttle at the University of illinois, where provisions for credit by examination are somewhat similar to tnose of Ohio State University, is quoted as saying that "students who, after passing the course by examination, took further work in the subject alnost always 2 did well." At the University of illinois, proficiency examinations, similar to regular semester examinations, are given eacn semester in courses normally open to freshmen and sophomores. No fee is charged. A student making a C or better is given credit toward graduation if the ciurse is acceptable in his curriculum and if he does not duplicate credit counted for his admission requirements. No official record is made of failures. The University of California at Los Angeles seems to have a somewhat similar provision covering courses oifered by the University and subje ts which are not offered as courses, but which can be applied to the student's curriculum. hesults of all such examinations are entered on the student's record in the same manner as for regular courses. approval of the dean of the student's college and of the instructor concerned are necessary before the student may take l Sidney L. Pressey, 22. git., p. 125. 2 G. P. Tuttle, “Proficiency Examinations at the University of Illinois", Eulletin of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars. 11 (October, 1935), pp. 55-58. -25... the examination. There are no fees. Syracuse requires registration for the course and full payment of tuition before the advanced-stand- ing credit examinations may be taken. These examinations are extensive, involving a three—hour written examination, an oral examination by two members of the department concerned, and a laboratory problem or paper. Many other institutions such as George'Washington University have provisions for eliminating required courses by examination, but no credit is allowed. Thus it is evident that no real pattern of.any great extent is evident in American colleges and universities for encouraging credit by examination. in the few institutions mentioned which have studied the effectiveness of their procedures, the evidence is overwnelmingly in favor of encouraging superior students to take credit by examination for college work in which they may be proficient. Not only do they do well in the examinations, but they continue to do well in subsequent courses in similar subject areas and to maintain high overall college grades. Since this study is concerned with Michigan State College and its particular system of acceleration in the Basic College, a reView of some previous work relating to acceleration at this college is in order. The course organization for the Basic College has been mentioned in Chapter I, page 3 . Associated with the Basic College, but a separate entity, is the Board of Examiners who prepare comprehensive examinations for these courses. it is possible for a student to accelerate by -29- examination in any of these courses if he has met the requirements shortly before the end of either the first or second terms and has the permission of the department head. These requisites may be generalized briefly as an A at the time of decision before the examination during the first term, plus department permission, or an A or B at the end of the first term plus at least a B at the time of decision during the second term, plus department permission. Some departments have additional requirements and these are given in detail in Appendix A, page 197-201. Theoretically it is possible for students at Michigan State College to accelerate without having taken any of a particular course, but as will be seen in the sample used in this study, this was not done by anyone. It should be considered a rarity. The Foard of Examiners has in the process of its operation made a number of studies concerning acceleration in Basic College courses. Hall has tabulated the grades of accelerates and non-accelerates who took the comprehensive examinations Spring term, l9hb, from an unpublished 1 study of the Board of Examiners in Table I. It is to be noticed that the percentage of students receiving A was considerably higher in the accelerate group than in the non-acceler- ates, and the percentage receiving B was somewhat higher. This is in spite of the reasonable assumption that those non~accelerates whose grades were good enough to accelerate probably got the higher grades l J. Oliver hall, 22. git., p. hh. This table includes all those not accelerating whether they could have accelerated had they chosen to do so or not. This is not the sampling to be used in this study, where all not accelerating because they were not eligible were eliminated. -30- TABLE I PERCENTAGE 0F STUDENTS IN FACJ aging CLASSIFICATIQN OF THE 3MPREHEHSITE EXANINLTlGNS, SPRING, 19h8 Group of Grades Credit—Point Students Number A B C D F Ratio Non-Accelerates 8660 h.7 2h.b 50.2 16.3 b.2 2.09 Accelerates 839 11.0 28.8 39.7 16.2 h.3 2.26 Totals 9&99 5.3 2h.8 h9.3 16.3 h.2 2.11 in the comprehensive examination. This would thus at least indicate that the superior students are doing the accelerating. The percentages of D and F grades are about the same in eacn group, indicating possibly that, where the poorer students attempt acceleration, their chances of failure are about the same as those not accelerating, in spite of not having had all the course material in class. Another unpublished study by the Board of Examiners concerning whether those accelerating were passing the comprehensive examination because of a high degree oi competence in those items concerned with material which they had had in class showed that this was not true. The statement is made that “the recurring Ltatement that accelerates make their grades by performance on first term material cannot be 1 justified from these data." The data were obtained from the group taking the comprehensive examination in Winter, 19h7. It consisted of l J. Oliver Hall, op. cit., p. LY. an item-by-item analysis oi the results of the examination broken down by groups according to one, two, or three terms in he course. This result could have been predicted from the results obtained at other colleges and universities (already cited) on examinations given to entering superior freshmen and others wno had not had any of the course and who performed generally better than those of lesser ability who had had the course. Another study of still another phase of the accelerate problem at Michigan State College, that of performance in succeeding and related courses by those who accelerated in a basic course, was made by 1, 2 Erwin R. Van Der Jagt. He worked with several hundred students, part of whom had the Basic College course in Bioloxical Soience and part of whom did not. Those having the course were divided into accelerated and non-accelerated groups. These groups were then further divided into those having and those not having Zoology 207 previous to taking Zoology 208, and further into students having Botany 101 and those having Biological Science previous to Botany 202, an advanced course for which Botany 101 and 201 is normally a prerequisite. Pairing of students in the groups was done by using the quintile scores on the American Council on Education Psychological Test, taken as entering freshmen, and by grades achieved on the comprehensive examination in l Erwin R. Van Der Jagt, ”A Study of the Performance of Basic Biological Science Students in Advanced Biology Courses," Science Education. 3h (March, 1950), pp, @5_93, 2 Erwin R. Van Der Jagt, and George N. Angell, "Should Accelerated Students Be Penalized by Admission Requirements?", School and Society. 71 (April, 1950), pp. 199-200. -32- Biological Science. When taking Zoology 207, a first course in ZoolOgy, the accelerates showed better performance as measured by grade in the course than non-accelerates, tne difference being signiiicant at the one percent level (Fisher "t" Test). In testing performance on an advanced course, Zo)logy 208, accelerates showed better grades, but not significantly so. it might be remarked that the accelerates also showed somewhat better grades in Zoology 208 even if they had not taken Zoology 207, but again not significantly so. it might be remarked here that some students took zoology 207 but not Biological Science in preparation for Zoology, since they had at that time a choice of five of seven basic college courses. Another feature noted was that accel- erates who had taken two terms of Biological Science tended to do better in Zoology 208 than those having had only one term, again not significantly so. In discussing Botany courses it is necessary to mention that all students take Botany 101 or 201 in preparation for Botany 202, whether they have had Biological Science or not. In Botany 202, if they had 201 after Biological Science, there was a significant difference (one percent level) of achievement in grades for accelerates over non— accelerates. In fact, accelerates taking any combination of Biological Science and Botany 101 or 201 achieve significantly better grades at the five percent level than did non-accelerates with any combination, and one combination showed one percent significance. -33- Van Der Jagt's comment on the results was that there is "an acceleration factor outside the realm of both general learning ability as measured by the American Council of Education Psychological Test and background knowledge in the subject as measured by the basic Biological Science comprehensive examination used as a pre-test“ which leads to greater success in future courses in this area for those who accelerate over those who do not. "Successful acceleration of students via Basic Biological Science comprehensive examination is indicative of a factor of learning which continues to operate in advanced science 1 courses." Other lactors in Acceleration While the present problem is concerned with the subsequent performance of students who accelerated by examination, certain other factors are involved in obtaining a profile of such accelerates. age of students and its corollary, early college entrance and completion, is one of these. The very early thinking on acceleration concerned the age of college students. President Eliotzof Harvard in 1898 was worried that the productive life of a professional man was too short. President Lowell of Jarvard in his report for 1908-1909 said, "There is thus good reason to suppose that boys could be prepared for college younger than they are, and that it would be an advantage for them to l Erwin Van Der Jagt, 2p. cit., p. 92. 2 C. W. Eliot, Educational Reform: Essay and Addresses, New York; Century Company, 1898, pp. 151-152. -3h- 1 come younger." He reiterates this thesis at length in his 1913- 19lh report. As proof of this contention, Lowell cites an investigation by H. W. Holmes, dean oi the School of Education at Harvard, who found that of 5769 larvard undergraduates over the scnool years 1902-1912 inclusive the youngest students had the best academic records, pro- portionally most often graduated with honors, and presented fewer 2 disciplinary problems. Many other studies oi a similar nature nave been made over the years. At Columbia in 1915, fifteen-year-olds made the highest marks, sixteen-year-olds were next, and so on down with increas- '2 ing ages.) In 1910 and 1911, students who entered the College of Arts at the University of hinnesota under 18 years of age were found to do better scholastically and to remain in school longer than those who h 5 entered at eighteen years 0: age or older. Other studies at Dartmouth, 1 A. Lawrence Lowell, At Ear With Academic Traditions in America. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 193b, p. 2&5- 2 H. W. holmes, '"Youth and the Dean: The Relations Between Academic Discipline, Scholarship and Age on Entrance to College." Harvard Graduate hagazine. 21 (June, 1913), pp. 599-610. 3 Adam L. Jones, "College Standing of Freshman of Various Ages," School and Society. 3 (May, 1916), pp. 717—20. h B. F. Pittenger, “Efficiency of College Students as Conditioned by Age at Entrance and Size of High School," National Society for the Study of Education, Sixteenth Yearbook, Part II, 1917, pp. 9-112. 5 R. W. Husband, “Studies in Student Personnel at Dartmouth," Journal of Personnel Research. 2 (May, 1923), p. 76. -35- 1 2 Northwestern, Columbia, and the College of the City of New York showed similar results. Researches transcending the scope of merely one college campus showed the same thing. Records of two thousand students from several colleges showed the younger the student at entrance the higher the average marks and the longer the average attendance at college.4 Pressey concluded that the evidence was practically unanimous that younger entrants were most likely to graduate, had the best academic records, won the most honors, and presented fewest diSCiplinary problems. He said also that evidence showed that the younger ehtrants also were highest in ability and that their superior academic record was presumably a product of this attribute. When comparing younger students on their college records with older ones of the same ability, their younger age was no handicap. A University of Buffalo study, in which 57 entrants 1 Esther McD. Lloyd-Jones, Student Personnel'Work at Northwestern University. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1929. See especially pp. :6— ;7, 191, 150. 2 H. A. Gray, Some Factors in the Undergraduate Careers of Young College Students. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1930, pp. 50-51 {Teachers College, Columbia University, contributions to Education, No. DB7.) 3 Arthur F. Payne, "An Experiment in Human Engineering at the College of the City of New York," School and Society. 32 (August, 1930), pp. 292-29h- E Charles A. Odell, "The Effect of Early Entrance Upon College Success," Journal of Educational Research. 26 (March, 1933): PP. 510-12. 5 S. L. Pressey, op. git., p. 7. —36- less than seventeen years of age Were matched with 57 other students two years older by American Council Psychological Examination, size of high school attended, position in high school class, and marks on Regent's examination in high school, showed the younger entrants equal- ling the older group in average college marks and percentage graduating with distinction, and excelling the older ones in Mathematics and Language. The Shio State University studies bear out the results of earlier researches. One research using 3021 students in five undergraduate colleges at Ohio State entering in 1936 showed these entering youngest (under 17) were more apt to graduate than any other age group selected and in general more apt to graduate in the normal time required.2 The youngest group was slightly better at entrance on the Ohio State Psychological Examination, although even here 27 percent of the youngest group rated below the h0th percentile. The group entering at age 16 had 70 percent graduating who were above the 80th percentile at entrance. This was maximum for any age group (by years), with the groups 18 or older being about constant at approximately 55 percent graduating. Another study concerning the scholastic records achieved at Ohio State for undergraduates in l9hl-b2 and 19h2-h3 gave further evidence 1 Eunice Strabel, Academic Success of Various Age and Experience Groups. Buffalo, N. Y.: University of Buffalo, 1936, p. 122 (University of Buffalo studies, Vol. XIII, Series 11). Also, Mary E. Sarbaugh, Studies of Articulation of High School and College - With Special Reference to the Superior Student. Buffalo, New York: University of Buffalo, l93h, pp. 60-63 (University of Tuffalo, Studies Vol IX, Series I. 2 So Lo Pressey, EEO 2E0, p. 60' 3 S. L. Presse-‘Y, 22. 9-1—20, p. 63. -37- to back previous results that the younger the student at graduation the higher the median point-hour ratio: below age 21, 2.80; age 21, 2.683 and so on as the age progressed. The only deviation was a slight increase for those lumped as over-2h-year—olds. It is suspected that motivation was very good in this oldest group, but even here the median value of 2.53 did not approach that of 2.80 for the youngest group. As measured by grades attained, which Van Der Jagt and Angell cite as being the best measure in academic success (and give six references as evidence), the youngest group is thus most likely to be successful in college, with probability of success decreasing with age. The argument often advanced that younger entrance into college results in social maladjustment, because of social and emotional immaturity as compared to the average student, is not acceptable to Pressey. He says evidence against it is too strong, and cites four studies showing in general that those entering at a young age (perhaps under sixteen) participated in and gained recognition in extra—curricular activities as much or more than older students. In fact, one study showad the younger ones gaining the majority of class offices by the Senior year.- The students themselves did not feel in general that they suffered because of their younger ages in their social and emotional adjustment and participation in activities. One of Pressey's own l E. R. Van Der Jagt and G. W. Angell, op. cit., p. 199. 2 R. W. Husband, pp. cit., p. 78. 3 Noll Keys, The Underage Student in High School and College. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1938, p. 16D. ~38- studies at Ohio State University showed that wnong those graduating in the l9bl—b2 and l9b2-b3 classes, only 15 percent of the youngest group, under 21, were not listed in the college yearbook as having participated in some extra—curricular activity, as compared with 38 percent of the older students. Those graduating at twenty-one or younger most often held office. This assumes that participation in extra-curricular activities is a measure of satisfactory adjustment in college. Pressey, in his extended discussion of age in relation to acceler— ation,2 markedly emphasizes the significance of maturity at a time, about twenty, when the organism largely completes the growth process and settles into patterns of adulthood. He says the prime period, which is closely related, is that of maximal health, strength, vigor of interests, and potentiality of intellectual creativeness, and that this period occurs soon after maturity. Pressey feels that it is thus advantageous to start the adult career concurrently with the prime. He further states that there is some evidence to suggest that the most able individuals tend to reach maturity sooner. It might be mentioned here that the scholastically superior students are the ones who take graduate or professional school work and so prolbng their active college careers. They are older than the four-year college V person when they enter their professional life and so are less able to l S. L. Pressey, pp. git., p. 6b. 2 Sn L. Pressey, 22. 2330, pp. 28"?1‘0 -39- take full advantage of their prime period. This complaint is often made by medical students who must devote iour years to professional study and two or three years of internship and hospital residence after the bachelor's degree. Any saving in time of these superior students which does not harm the student's intellectual and emotional develop— ment strengthens the case for acceleration for these people in terms of the concept of prime. A few studies are available to test the occupational and other later life successes of these younger graduates. The statement is often made that, even though accelerates do well in college, in the atmosphere of adult life they are too immature and in consequence are mediocrities or failures. Again Ohio State University seems to have done much of this work. Pressey used the biographical records of Amherst College because of their completeness.1 The classes from l88t to 1900 were used because these individuals would have completed their careers by l9h3, the time his study was made. He iound that the youngest graduates were slightly more likely to marry, and did so at the youngest age. These are assumed to be desirable phenomena. lurther, over a quarter of these graduating at nineteen were nationally known, and there was constant decrease in the proportion of such cases until none occurs among those graduating after twenty-six. Failures were most common among the older graduates. While admitting the possibility of many other 1 So In Pressey, 9-20 2%., p. 70. -b0- factors having a part in the results, Pressey is inclined to conclude that "the younger graduates gained precious years in their prime, for a running start on their careers." Terman's findings for gifted children,lrelating age of graduation from high school to later life records, strikingly support these results. To more nearly equate entering ability in college and college success, 71 women of 10h8 graduates 01 the College of Education at Ohio State University in the classes from 1926-1929 who graduated at nine- teen or twenty were paired with 71 women graduating at 22.2 The enter- ing abilities and point-hour ratio of these women were equated. The younger graduates married in the same percentage, earned higher salaries while working, tWice as many reached administrative pOSitions, and more earned advanced degrees. Pressey comments that "the younger graduates were under no handicap at the beginning of their careers or later. Rather, they were more successful."3 Thus the evidence is strongly in favor of the younger graduates from college, and also the younger entrants, in many phases of their careers, in college as well as out. At the worst they seem to do no worse than the older students and graduates; at tne best they do better, and not entirely because they may have more natural ability, although l S. L. Pressey, pp. git., p. 17. From L. h. Terman and helita H. Oden, The Gifted Child Grows Up. Stanford University, California: Stanford University Press, 19L7, pp. 265-79. 2 Maria A. Ilesher, ”Did They Graduate Too Young?," Educational Research Bulletin. 2h (March, l9hS), pp. 218-21. 3 S. L. Pressey, 2p. Eit., p. 73. -ul- f1 the younger entrants seen to have some slight edge in ability. ihe case for younger entrance and for acceleration leading to graduation at a younger age is strong. Other factors which are involved in acceleration practices are the load per term which a college student can profitably carry without ill effect and the amount oi vacation time he needs. These are, of course, involved in acceleration by carrying what are commonly called excess credits and by lengthening the school year by summer session attendance on,as was done during World War Ii,by adding a full third semester or fourth term. These will not be dealt with in this study because of the very few cases of these types of acceleration in the sample selected, the result of lack oi emphasis on this at the time the students in the sample were in school \l9h9-l953), and the some- what different purpose of the study. Hence, the literature Will not be reviewed except to note in passing that the few studies wnich have been made on heavier course loads show that students do better scholast- ically when matched with students carrying normal loads. Further, students themselves report that they have not been hindered in their social life, health, or leisure activities.1 Pressey and Flesher draw the further inference that perhaps students do not have enough to do 2 with the usual 16 hour load. As to extending the school year, a good deal of experience was gained with this method during'World'War ll, 1 Jo Oliver Hall, 080 Cite, pp. Sh‘bfbro 2 S. L. Pressey and Marie Flesher, "An analysis of the Effects of College Acceleration," Educational Administration and Supervision. 30 (l9hh): PP. 351-61. 442.. f but little was done to measure its educational effect. ‘What was done indicates no appreciable variation in college achievement by paired groups of those who took the accelerated work and those who did not.1 Students who have been subjected to the accelerated scnedule were for the most part opposed to speed-up, indicating more fatigue, less opportunity for social life, less opportunity for earning expenses. With the exception of the latter reason, Hall strongly suspects that the time-honored pattern of educational practice is a highly influenc- ing factor. Hence, the desirability of this type of acceleration seems to be more or less of a personal consideration With eacn student. Apparently the administrations do not like the pattern, since they wasted no time in all colleges and universities in returning to the old pattern after the War, and refused to do much about re-activating it during tne Korean conflict. A last means of acceleration, not so far discussed here, might be mentioned in closing this review. It has been little used but has much to recommend it as an aid to superior students. This is the special class or even special program which allows superior students to progress at a rate commensurate with their abilities. This means of acceleration was rather thorgughly gone into on this campus by J. Oliver hall in Social Science. He found it especially effective in reducing the time for superior students to pass the comprehensive examination in Social l J. UliVeI‘ “all, 98. 93.2., pp. 257.27. 2 J. Oliver “all, .91).. Cit.) pp. 70-1117. -113- Science. He concludes that tne special class seems to be the most satisfactory means of increasing the competence of students who acceler- ate Social Science. This was borne out by studies at the University 1 c of Minnesota and at Ohio State University. Summary There has been relatively little of a guantitative nature done on methods and effects of acceleration in colleges and universities in the United States. This is more particularly true of the special consideration of this study, acceleration by examination for credit. The experiences at such colleges and universities as tne University of Chicago, Ohio State University, UniverSity of Bufialo, Antiocn College, and Michigan State College are reviewed and the findings considered. The evidence is all in favor 01 allowing students to pro- ceed more rapidly toward a degree by this type of acceleration. They perform as well or better in the acceleration examinations and do as well or better in courses wnich follow, whether they have had any of the accelerated course or not. Entrance examinations as a means of allowing credit for elementary courses are used at most of these schools and indicate similar performance by those using them. There is a total lack of evidence indicating that students suffer because they acceler- ate by any type 01 examination for credit. 1 Clara N. Brown, ”An Experiment in Sectioning," Journal of Higher Education. 1 (May, 1930), pp. 269-73. 2 S. L. Pressey, 2p. cit., pp. 125-130. Age as a factor in acceleration has been reviewed. All the evidence points favorably toward the younger students being as successful or more successful in college work. They suffer no apparent social maladjustment. Those who graduate younger do not seem to suffer in their life work and relationships. Other methods of acceleration are only very briefly considered, since the present study is not concerned with them. CHAPTER III SAMPLING PROCEDURES USED IN THE STUDY lt is the purpose of this chapter to discuss the reasons for the selection of the general sample used throughout the study and the general procedures used in testing the hypotheses proposed in Chapter I. In the actual testing of these hypotheses the general sample may be sub- divided and used in a manner appropriate to the particular hypothesis. These procedures will be discussed in detail at that time. The present chapter is concerned only with selection of the total group of acceler- ates and non-accelerates used. In order to study acceleration in the Basic College at Michigan State, it was deemed necessary to pick a sample which was represent- ative of typical student performance. Following a particular class through its course in college seemed a logical way to approach this. However, difficulty was encountered in defining what was typical. Since the establishment of the Basic College and its accompanying Board of Examiners in l9hh, the situation has not been static. The first group of students handled immediately after the war was primarily veterans, an older group and certainly not typical of what would be expected in future years. By Fall term of l9h9, the percentage of veterans had been markedly reduced to 2.92 percent of the total undergraduates, only hhl out of lh,509. The number entering in Fall of l9h9 was smaller than that. The procedures concerned with acceleration were not changed appreciably until 1952. It was deemed necessary to use a group that could be followed through to graduation. hence, the most typical group to be found that would contain as few veterans as possible, that would have had a nearly constant Basic College acceleration procedure, and that could be traced to graduation, was the group finishing in June 1953, who also entered at Michigan State College as freshmen.l All of these students did not enter in the Fall of l9h9 and graduate in four academic years. In the final sample selected, for instance, 17 percent of all those used took more or 1e5s than four years. It was felt that the selection of the sample on the basis of a graduating class rather than an entering class was justified on the basis Oi very much easier access to the records of these students in the office oi the hegistrar at Michigan State College when grouped this way. it did not really make any fundamental difference,for those entering in any one class do not all graduate at the same time. That the group selected was not ideal for the purpose is granted. A discussion of some of its other imperfections is in order. A few of those in the sample who took a Basic College course in their junior year did so under a different system of examining. By that time the comprehensive examination system had been changed from credit for the entire course by comprehensive examination to credit by an examination at each term end. The total grade in each term of the 1 Transfer studendsfrom other institutions took only those Basic College courses in which they were deficient, so they can not properly be included with the group starting at Michigan State College. however in some cases a student had a term or semester at another institution and then transferred to Michigan State. He then usually was enrolled in the same Basic College courses as were regular entrants, with perhaps credit for one term. These were included in the sample. Their number was very small. Transfer students were considered as a separate sample and their performance is evaluated in Chapter IV. -u7_ course is now determined 50 percent by this “comprehensive" examination and 90 percent by the course instructor. These term—end examinations are increasingly comprehensive from term to term in subject matter, skills, and concepts covered in previous terms. however, tne compre- hensive examination does not now carry the impact of being the sole determinant of the course grade as it did for a vast majority of the grades involved in this study. The rumfimn‘of grades so involved is fortunately very small,some 1.7 percent, since in the common pattern students complete their Basic College courses by the end of their sophomore year before entrance into an upper school. Another factor which may have had some slight bearing on the students in the sample was the occurrence oi the horean conflict in June, 1950. hith it came some uncertainty for men students as to military status. However, those students already in college were assured by the military authorities that they could remain there if they made satisfactory progress toward a degree or took advanced Military Science. Thus it is felt that this had a minor effect on student attitudes and actions. The presence of the very small percentage OJ veterans in the class entering in Fall, l9h9, could have iniluenced but very little that portion of the sample who could have accelerated but did not choose to do so. The rules regarding acceleration opportunities to veterans were somewhat relaxed, as will be subsequently seen in the detailed discussion of these rules, and so it was not always possible to know in making the selection of this portion of the sample whether a veteran would have been permitted opportunity to accelerate with a slightly lower grade than -h8- those who were not veterans. The error is on the side of restricting the requirement for inclusion in the non-accelerate group and thus raising slightly the average grades of this group. Since the previous studies all indicate accelerates to be the scholastically superior group, whether through motivation or native ability, this error is in the proper direction toward minimizing this superiority. Thus it is felt that tne group of students selected for testing was as homogeneous from an acceleration standpoint and as representative of normal conditions as it was possible to select with the purposes in mind. Most studies of acceleration by examination used samples ofaiccel- erates compared to non-accelerates, sometimes by equating by previous performance, sometimes not. No mention has been.made of eliminating those non-accelerates who could not have accelerated because of inade- quate performance. Tor purposes of the present study it was decided to adopt the approach of comparing accelerates to only those non-accelerates who could have accelerated but chose not to do so.1 in this way those who had not met the requirements and received permission to accelerate were eliminated. The groups were thus selected on a basis of similar performance on Basic College courses and on similar opportunity to ac- celerate. They are thus equated on the basis of the total accelerating opportunity, and further subdivision sucn as grouping only those accel- erates who accelerated all the courses possible against the non- accelerates can be readily done if desired. l Henceforth the portion of the sample which is made up oi those who did not accelerate but could have done so had they chosen will be called the non-accelerates. -hg- In order to properly select the sample of those who did not accelerate but who could have done so, it was necessary to know the specific procedures used in the various departments of the Basic College in selecting those to whom permission was to be granted, since slightly different criteria were used by each department. At the time those students selected for the sample were taking their Basic College courses, the requirements which the student had to meet to be granted permission to attempt acceleration varied somewhat from department to department. The specific requirements for each department are given in the Appendix. They might be summarized by saying that most departments required for first term permission to attempt acceleration an A at the time of petitioning by the student in the first term,1 plus the recommendation of the course instructor. 'The head of the department, sometimes in con- junction with a departmental committee, made the final decision. For second term permission, a B grade in the first term, plus at least a B grade at the time of petitioning in the second term, the instructor's recommendation, and departmental permission were most frequently re— quired. It is to be noted that some departments, notably Written and Spoken English and History of Civilization, had higher standards. Other departments,such as Physical Science and Biological Science, were a bit more lenient, particularly in requiring only B averages the second term instead of B in the first term and B in the second term. l The final grade for the entire Basic College course was the grade earned on the comprehensive examination. However, a grade was given by the instructor in each term of the course as the student progressed, and this term grade was recorded temporarily on the official college records. Hence the instructor in each course kept records for determining these grades, and this grade to the time of petitioning reflects the student's progress in the term to this time. -50- In selecting the final sample of non—accelerates the individual departmental requirements were followed as closely as possible. it was impossible to know the exact grade of eacn student in the course at the time that requests were received in each department, so it was assumed that the term end grade was the same as that at the time the decision was made. To iurther aid in sample selection, when the records were examined and data noted, all those having grades which would possibly qualify them to attempt acceleration were noted. These were included in the group to which a questionnaire was sent to obtain information con- cerning reasons for attempting acceleration, how accelerates prepared for the examination, record of previous acceleration before college, and the like.1 The replies were then used as a check on whether the student thought he could accelerate certain courses on which the records indica- ted doubt. The evidence from this questionnaire indicates that students remembered whether they were eligible.2 however, this device could not be used on all non-accelerate students, since response was not 100 per- cent. It was very useful, nevertheless, in the selection of the sample of non-accelerates. The records of those students who started in the Fall of l9h9 and might be expected to finish in Spring, 1953 but who had dropped from school before June, 1953, were examined. Accelerate and non-accelerate 1 See Chapter VIII and Chapter IX. 2 Of the non-accelerates replying to the questionnaire, 52.5 per- cent know exactly how many courses they could accelerate and which ones they were, although these courses were not indicated to them, while another 2h.h percent were wrong on only one course (and in many cases this was marginal as indicated on the records). The remainder were wrong on two or more courses. Of these latter,many of them checked all the courses which they took, indicating a possible misinterpretation of the instructions. 5 - 1- samples were selected from those withdrawing before graduation on the same basis as for those wno graduated. These data are used in Chapter V to test the third hypothesis concerning Whether the accelerates stayed in school longer and were more likely to graduate than non-accelerates. from this method of selection it is felt that substantially all non— accelerates who could have accelerated were selected. This is possibly a better sample scholastically than would have been selected if the exact facts were known in eacn case. in all departments the stated standards were not always rigidly adhered to in allowing students to attempt acceleration, since undoubtedly there were occasional circum- stances not Obvious to someone examining only the records. The non- accelerates as selected thus probably omitted some who might have been granted permission to attempt acceleration had they applied. There has been, since the time that these students took these courses, a decided trend toward raising tne standards necessary for attempting acceleration. The selection of the sample of accelerates consisted of reviewing the records of the Registrar and selecting those who had accelerated one or more terms in at least one Basic College course. it might be mentioned here that it was possible in all departments to accelerate all three terms without having attended classes at all. No evidence was found in the records hat any students graduating in June, 1955 had done this. In all cases a grade appeared for at least one term of the course. Also in reviewing the records it was found that only one student in this class had accelerated in Literature and Fine Arts. This is undoubtedly due to the nature of that course. Each term covered a separate entity, music, art, and literature. It was not necessary to take these terms in the 171, 172, 173 order. A mastery of the language of these arts was nec- -5?— essary in each area. hence very few students applied for permission to attempt acceleration. Those who did apply were competent usually in one area only, such as music, and so generally only one term was accelerated. Since there was only one student accelerating the course, Literature and Fine Arts grades were eliminated from tne study on the grounds oi not being typical oi the rest oi the system. Certain assumptions made in selecting the sample have already been mentioned. Another basic one is that grades are a good measure oi the student's competence in a course. Still another assumption is that tne comprehensive examinations given in the various departments 01 the basic College actually measure the academic attainment of the student. The comprehensive examinations used at Michigan State College at the time these students took them have been deiined by Dressel as being more comprehensive, as compared to ordinary class examinations, in that they attempt "to cover a wider range of abilities than the recall of factual knowledge so frequently emphasized to the exclusion of other objectives. (They) are more comprehensive in (their) careiul sampling oi the course content in accordance with a detailed analysis of content and objectives. They are more comprehensive in the sense that (they) usually include some materials from the same general area which are not actually in- cluded in the course."1 Their purposes, as given by Dressel, are: l. to recognize individual differences in students and to allow them to progress at varying rates in accordance with these differences. 2. to encourage the retention and integration of knowledge accumulated over a period oi three terms. 1 Comprehensive Examinations in a Program of General Education (East Lansing: The Michigan State College Press7‘19h9. Chapter II By Paul L. Dressel, p. 8. -53- 3. to place emphasis on objective evidence oi achievement rather than on completion of a stereotyped sequence of activities. h. to improve the relationship of student and instructor by relieving the instructor of the necessity of passing judgment on achievement ior which he is partly responsible. 5. to replace the varying and occasionally highly subjective judgments oi many different instructors by one uniform system oi grading all students seeking credit in a course. 6. to improve the quality of examinations by assigning the task of constructing examinations to interested and qualified individuals who are given adequate time ior the job.1 These examinations were prepared by an examiner in each course area in conjunction with teaching members of that department. The examiner himseli taught part—time in a department. The examinations were generally objective in nature (one exception was the requirement of a theme and a speech in Written and Spoken English), and students were given two periods of two hours each to answer them. They were machine-scored. Each examiner charted the specifications ior question distribution in terms of the objectives to be covered. For instance, in Biological Science 50 percent oi the examination attempted to measure the student's knowledge and understanding oi the concepts and principles, vocabulary, and related reading, while the other 50 percent was devoted to the use of scientiiic thinking involved in problem solving, critical evaluation of experiments and appraisal 01 real situations. Social Science devoted two—thirds of the examination to understandings of the units of its course oiferings in terms of facts, concepts and generalizations and basic and persistent social problems. 1 Ibido , p. 80 One-third of the examination was devoted to such abilities as inter- pretation and evaluation of information, recognition of associations, cause-and-effect relationships, drawing conclusions from evidence, recognition of the tentative nature of conclusions, 1d the application of social science generalizations and conclusions to actual social problems. A detailed discussion of the construction of tnese examina— tions is given in the book, Comprehensive Examinations in a Proeram of i General Education.1 Students were graded by placing the raw scores on the examination such that 5-10 percent received A, 20-30 percent B, hO-éO percent re- ceived C, 10-20 percent were given D, and 0-5 percent were given P. A number of schemes were used to insure uniformity of grading from one examination to the next, such as the planting of previously used items to serve as a basis of comparison of competence of successive groups of students. It is thus evident that an effort has been made by the Board of Examiners to measure the objectives of the courses, to do so in pro- portion to their stated value assigned in setting up the course, and to insure uniform grading from one examination to the next. That these examinations are not perfect is admitted by haak, but he feels that they are the best measure yet devised to measure student ability in these . 2 courses. They measure "far more than mere knowledge and memory.“ l 939 Cite, Chapters Ill-IX. 2 Haak, 22. cit., p. 13. Dr. Haak was head, Department of Effective Living, until reorganization of the Basic College in 1953. -55.. . Even if the comprehensive examinations do not measure student attainment well, the student who passes the examination at or above ‘the minimum standard set by the Basic College without taking the entire 'course has demonstrated similar ability with those who take the entire course and pass the same kind of an examination. The use of a questionnaire has been alluded to. This questionnaire, reproduced in the Appendix, was used to obtain the student's reasons for accelerating if he did so or for not accelerating if he did not do so, and to get such miscellaneous information as how he prepared to take the comprehensive examination, his previous record of acceleration, and the like. From all of this information it was hoped to round out the picture of the accelerates' performance and characteristics. Also enclosed was a form to be used as a check list so that each student might indicate his extra-curricular activities while in college. The activities list was used as a rough measure of his social adjustment in collegeolt is analyzed in Chapter VIII. This means of measuring this adjustment was suggested by Dr. L. B. Mayhew of the Board of Examiners at Michigan State College in the original suggestions for the study. It has been used in previous studies at Ohio State University, Dartmouth, and other institutions. These findings were revieWed in Chapter II, pages 38 and 39. As previously mentioned, the questionnaire served the further purpose of serving as a check on the non-accelerate sample. Before closing this chapter, it might be well to emphasize again that the procedures and in fact the standards for acceleration as they are used in this study are not those used at present. The system of -56- comprehensive examinations itself has been changed from an examination covering the entire course of three terms to one which uses an examin- ation for each term, with the grade obtained being that for the particular term's work. The acceleration procedure has also been changed to one whereby the student must accelerate by taking each of tnese examinations for the terms he is accelerating but he does not take the examination in the term of the course in.wnich he is presently enrolled. This grade is instructor-determined. The standards for acceleration have been raised from at least a C grade on the comprehensive examination to at least a B. This is in line with a general tightening of acceleration requirements through the years. However, the fact that the study is not truly representative of present practice does not lessen its value in evaluating acceleration performance. It cannot be validly argued that the study should wait until the system has assumed a constant procedure, for if it is a good working system it will never reach the position where it does not change. when To study acceleration by examination at Michigan State College the class which graduated in June, 1953 is the source of the sample. The technique of choosing samples so that accelerates are compared with non-accelerates who could have accelerated is used. Thus the substan- tial group who could not have accelerated even if they had so desired is eliminated for purposes of better comparison. Specific criteria which governed the permission to accelerate in each department in the Basic College were used in selecting the sample. Assumptions made in sample selection are discussed, as are the overall assumptions made in the study. The comprehensive examination is briefly considered as a valid measure oi achievement in Basic College courses in justification of the assumption that the general abilities or accelerates is on a level with that of the non—accelerates ii they can pass these examina- tions. -51.. CHAPTER IV COMPARISON OF ACCELERATES AND NON-ACCELERATES BY OVERALL ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT The first of the considerations by which the accelerates by examination in the class graduating in June, 1953 were compared to the non-accelerates is their overall academic achievement while at Michigan State College. The hypothesis to be tested is: Students at Michigan State College who accelerated Basic College courses by examination are significantly superior academically throughout their college careers to fellow students of the same graduating class who dii not accelerate by examination but could have had they chosen to do so. This chapter presents the evidence collected in testing this hypo- thesis. Accelerates and Non-Accelerates Starting and Finishing at M. S. C. The samples used have been defined in Chapter III. Some general statistics about the groups chosen will be useful in interpreting the results obtained. These are presented in Table II, which includes only the students starting and finishing at Michigan State College. Transfer students from other institutions did not, as a rule, take a full schedule of Basic College courses and so were not directly comparable to the group doing all their work at Michigan State. These transfers will be considered separately later in the chapter. TABLE II GEhERAL INFORMATIOK CONCERNING ACCELERATION OF JUNE, 1953 FOUR-YEARl GRADUATES FROM MICHIGAN STATE COLLEGE 1. Number in graduating class (less Vet. medicine) 1196 2. Number of students accelerating at least one Basic College course 356 3. Total number of courses accelerated (less Lit. and . Fine Arts) 560 h. Average number of courses accelerated per student 1.57 5. Total number of courses accelerates could have accelerated 1001 6. Average number of courses which accelerates could have accelerated 2.81 7. Number of students not accelerating but could have 13h 8. Number of courses non-accelerates could have accelerated 2hl 9. Average number of courses each non-accelerate could have accelerated 1.80 10. Number of students who could not have accelerated 706 l The term "four-year graduates" will henceforth be used to de- signate those students who began as freshman and who graduated from Michigan State College, even though they may have required more or less than four years to obtain the Bachelor's Degree. -60 .. An examination of these data show that h9O students of 1196 in the class were eligible to accelerate by examination after one term in class.1 Of these,356 or 72.7 percent did accelerate. Thus students in this class when in the Basic College at Michigan State College did make good use of the opportunity to accelerate. Iurther, those who did accelerate did so in more than half the courses in which they were eligible, 560 of 1001. It is also apparent that those who did not choose to accelerate by examination were eligible in fewer courses than those who actually did accelerate, an average of 1.80 courses per student as compared to 2.81 courses per student for the accelerates. This would seem to indicate that the accelerates as a group were doing superior work in the Pasic College courses. The present chapter in- vestigates their academic achievement in all college courses to establish whether this indicated trend is true for the total college career. in approaching the testing of the hypotheses given below, it should be stated that the entire sample of those accelerating is tested against the entire sample of those qualified but not accelerating. Subsequently, the group is further broken down to present the slightly different approach of comparing those who accelerates whenever they could against the non-accelerates. The procedure used to obtain the samples for testing was as follows: 1. The accelerates and non-accelerates who had done all their work at Michigan State College were segregated by means of 1 This total does not includefih9 who graduated in Veterinary Medicine. This group was eliminated from the study, as previously discussed. -51- 2. their Basic College grades according to the requirements for permission to accelerate given in Appendix A and ac- cording to wnether they had actually accelerated. The cumulative grade point average for eacn student in tnese groups was figured at the end of his freshman, SOpho- more, junior, and senior years. Since some students took either less than or more than four years to complete their degree, the total credits needed to complete three average terms in each year were used to compute these averages. These were roughly SC, 100, 150, and 200 credits for the completion of the freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years in almost all curricula. Two hundred credits are normally needed to graduate. The completion of the term which gave the total credits closest to these figures was used to complete a particular year. Cumulative grade averages were used principally because they present the overall picture of achievement tociate. They also allow an estimate of relative performance by year when the difference in averages from one year to the next for one sample is compared to the equivalent difference for the other sample. Figures 1 through h are frequency distribution plots of the data for the averages at the end of each of the four years. Each curve approximates in shape a normal distribution curve. If the curves can be assumed to be normal distributions, then the hypothesis that the accelerates achieve better grades than the non-accelerates might be -62... . _ -;-- .-' ‘--- .. ' 1r. - .. M'T - ' UC.:’.--..ila\)-. pi ._J" .uhBA‘I’ES .J ..0:.-1-Jb..u.]-L-‘.T:ub 3:18.33} ."OIT T ..-.V':.‘."..-.{.‘r...3 hots: Frequencies are ' ' splptted at the mid- ’ _ pdintsr of the classes, ‘i. all the frequency plots. . - ‘- , ' i '0 l H ' 35,6 ifi. - ; j » ACCELHRKTES . a, .\.\ . ‘ /i\il_ __,_ Q . . .; .. ,\\. A . l-\ . o / z/ \o/ “ \ m G :l . .l\\‘/‘ ‘ H I’ .Q. l ‘ ‘r , 4 \V 'f ./‘.',,,..?:'AI’ ‘ §D\\ /I " ‘13“ l to“\‘\' : ‘ /-'0 HON—ACCELERAT “-i : * -;:~‘-v ‘ -‘ ,; “fin/fix : ‘pffisxig‘f’wyj'rw . o—o—g/ ‘o—o‘ j ‘ A ‘ , ' L i | \r“,c‘\h,3\o/ ‘ - . c . ~ ; » . 03.;ka A’OIN’T;A Eitéifi ;”-‘gnwaa1 -63- 1.50 @o c'2.,oo \ 7‘, a m i J IaU-G L," ..-J;.i:--.-.-'_'-'.; v.3 .It‘.‘L—-.C'..‘.'..'..'.L'.'.‘;3 _ , 3.1.3.. POL}: A'.’.J-’...J.JJ ' sdudmfiz ‘ ' 132+ t ; LIQII”ACCIAJLEJ 3561 3381‘ 7 ‘ V. 7477 I. 2.50 . GRADE' POINT AVERAGES I Emma; ‘ —6h- ,‘ .. -.-:_--' .1: |‘- ' ': -‘-..‘ .- .\.\-- ,‘. (.().-..’...Lio\... L: .-..:L.....'......... I.) -n. -.L;u..'._.-.-.c... " -.'|_-T.'|"I..'.= J;.‘¢.J.'J 3L'L--.¢. “V“-..ugb m/./?2_t O /.|‘ v ,0.- A’ z;oo : » f fi,‘ 0-1 :. h 1:34‘ L' ;‘ row-accniagimns,, Gin: ;3400;3 .2.§p‘ .‘m POINT.KV3RAGBS TIQHEEil -6S- I s u' a ‘ l u m ‘ 1 i V i 1 L < u l I , ‘ . I ‘4 5 ‘I' T v "7 7"" ‘ l i _i.. i..- . - . n- a, h ' x ‘ ‘ ‘ ,‘ . . ; , 1 _,,- i i 1 \ l .1 :1- - -- u.- ;\_._“ - -. - .1. . ‘ I "a. n - . ---1 VGA J;L.’.I.JL.- Us JLUU.1A.l‘-'L-.J ”an . ‘L.-.‘.\J!.r-a..L._f.L.LIA. .4 ”a", l 1. ,GRADL POIVT avnhiGLS 6L;" dizxc-i , ‘ 7 ' o 7 I . , ‘ j _'j " ‘ 396’ , . : accelerates V ‘ a ‘, 20 l i _ 8 . ' "1323.131! CY s5 ,51‘31.‘ 0/ g ‘- 7 i /f P. 'non-L-aec‘elcbratss ' mew ‘ g N - g , . /. IO— '1. , '. '/ 1c _o . m 4-7 ,g. .. 1.50 f ZOO-i ;2‘.5qv, jaufiq ' GRADE Pom? when; ' 1 ‘- ,3 Henna -66- I - ' . _._ . ._"_.._V_ tested by testing the specific hypothesis that they are random samples from the same population, and that their means are not significantly different. This may be tested by use of "t" distribution. To get some idea of the normality of the distribution of Figures l-h, the chi square test for goodness of fit was applied to the distribution of freshman grades. For the accelerates a value of chi square of lb.h6h was found for 15 degrees of freedom. Using the table of chi square, this value was not significant; in other words there is no reason to assume that the curve is not normal. For the non-acceler- ates the chi square value is 16.972 for 11 degrees of freedom, again not significant - ie., there is no reason to reject the hypothesis that it is normal. Since these curves are representative of the shape of the sophomore, junior, and senior grade curves, it can be assumed with some confidence that all these are normal distributions. The "t" method of significance can thus be used, provided it meets certain other requirements, the principal one being that variances be comparable. In hypothesizing that the accelerates and non-accelerates are random samples from the same population, the variances of their dis- tributions must be of comparable magnitude. Again the freshman grades were used to explore the possibility. It was hypothesized that they were from the same population, and the Snedecor "F" adaption of the Fisher "2" test distribution was used to test this hypothesis. The Snedecor "F" is mathematically expressed as follows: (I! - 1) qu - i102 (m - 1) Z(X2 - f2)? F ‘ (1) -67- where n - l and m - 1 are degrees of freedom of the two samples and (x1 ~ ii)2 and (x2 - ié)2 are the squared deviations from the sample means. After determining the respective squared deviations and sub- stituting in formula one, F was found to equal 1.5hl. Tables of the F distribution show that this value will be found, ii the hypothesis of equal variances is true, less than one percent of the time. Hence, it must be concluded that the chances are excellent that these variances cannot be assumed to be comparable. The F values for sophomore, junior, and senior cumulative grades were 1.727, 1.561, and 1.h73 respectively, also above the one percent level of significance of l.h0. Because the variances cannot be assumed to be of the same order, the use of the conventional method for testing differences of the means of two samples from a single population was thus discredited. To test the original hypothesis it was necessary then to resort to a non- parametric test of significance which does not require an assumption about the distribution. The MannJWhitney Statistic was chosen. The peaked distribution about the mean, seen in Figures 1-h, led to this choice, for Auble says that the statistic is better than the normal or 1 "t" test under these conditions, although it is a great deal more time- consuming to use than is the conventional "t" test when large samples are used. This method of analysis ranks the total data of the two samples. The analysis is then made by using the mathematical relation- ship m (m + l) *— + 2 T (2) U = mn + 1 Donavon Auble, Extended Tables for the MannJWhitney Statistic, Bloomington: The Institute of Educational Research, School of Education, Indiana University, Vol. I, No. 2, 1953, p. 11 -68- where T is the sum of ranks of the values in the smaller sample in the rank order sequence of the units of both samples, m is the number of values in the smaller sample, and n is the number of values in the larger sample. Formula three gives a ratio for values of U which may then be examined for significance by entering tables of critical values of U for various significance levels if m and n are less than twenty. If m and n are greater than twenty, a standard normal or "t" table is used. Auble says that errors introduced by using the "t" table for samples greater than twenty are no larger than 0.0003 and depend on sample size.1 U - Critical Ratio = (3) mn(n + m + 1) 12 ME mn _ Thus U — —E can be thought of as something akin to a difference of mn(n + m + l) 12 deviation in the formula for testing significance of difference of means and as similar to a best estimate of standard means for normally distributed populations, 55 - x 07mm Tables III and IV present the results of analysis of the accelerate and non-accelerate data by this method. l Ibid.,p. 1h TABLE III MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIGNS 0F GRADE POINT AVERAGES FOR ACCELERATES AND NONQACCELERATES (FOUR-YEAR STUDENTS) Accelerate NoneAccelerate School Year _ _ N X a; N x 6; FRESHMAN 356 2.77h 0.85h 13h 2.6h0 0.366 SOPHOMORE 356 2.79b 0.h15 138 2.650 0.315 JUNIOR 356 2.881 0.812 13h 2.717 0.329 SENIOR 356 2.887 0.387 13h 2.779 0.318 TABLE IV SIGNIFICANCE OF DISTRIBUTION, DIFFERENCES OF THE BEAN S FOR ACCELERATE AND NON-ACCELERATE FOUR-YEAR STUDENTS WHO GRADUATE Year t FRESHI-LAN 3.392% SOPHOMORE 3.359% JUNIOR 2.671% SENIOR 2.535** *Significant at 0.01 level (t = 2.576) *%Significant at 0.05 level (t = 1.960) -70- It will be noted in Table IV that a significant difference in grade point average is found for the freshman, sophomore, and junior years at the egg percent level, wnile the difference in the senior year is significant at the fize percent level and nearly so at the 223 percent level. This is strong evidence that as a group those who accelerate are scholastically superior in their college work to those who do not accelerate, and the major hypothesis is thus upheld. A further examination of the frequency distribution curves of Figures l-h reveals wherein this superiority lies. Not only are the arithmetic means higher for the accelerates in all four groups, but the reason for the higher means lies in the larger number of accelerates who make very high grade point averages.l There are few non-accelerates above about 3.20, while there are appreciable numbers of accelerates in this group above this average, much more than the greater number of students in the accelerate sample would indicate. This could only mean that the very superior students, for the most part, do accelerate at least one course. An analysis of these accelerates shows that 21 per— cent accelerate all possible courses, 30 percent accelerate all but one possible, 33 percent accelerate all but two possible, and 16 per- cent accelerate all but three possible. To see how many of these very superior students would be included in the group that accelerated all the courses that itvaas possible to accelerate, such a group was picked from the total accelerates. One hundred fifty-nine students of the total of 356, or hh.7 percent, were included in this classification. Table V gives a comparison of means and standard deviations for these students with all the acceler- 1 Michigan State College uses the system A = H, B = 3, C = 2, D = 1, P = 0 in assigning course grades. -71- mam.o mm~.m :ma mmm.o Oww.w mmH 5mm.o www.m 0mm howcom mmm.o paw.m :ma 0mm.o mom.m mma maq.o H:m.m 0mm kahuna mamd 89m :3 oamd 89m mma 3.4.0 Swarm omm .ouosocaom oom.o 0:0.m and wmn.o mmm.w mma am:.o awwom 0mm dwsnmonm X 0 0 x o .b M OZ X10 M 02. .b M 02 HQQH momhfioo mdpwwmom Hoozom mopwuoaooo4 BZHOm mm¢mw mo WZOHEHQ mmdmz mqmda ates and all non-accelerates. Decidedly lower means result when only those are considered who accelerate all possible courses. In fact, the averages of grades in all years are now below those of the non-accelerates, but not significantly so. It is suspected that these averages fall below those of the non- accelerates because there are included in the accelerates some students who may have been permitted to accelerate while not quite meeting the stated requirements for accelerating but having such factors as age or previous experience in their favor. The department head might have seen fit to allow some of tnese students to try acceleration. The non- accelerate group was rigidly chosen according to the requirements listed, and so would have none of the border-line cases which might be expected to lower the grade point averages of the accelerates. This circumstance strengthens the case for tne observed superiority of the accelerates, for the non-accelerate sample tends to be better scholastically than it might be if border-line cases had been included. Figures 5 through 8 are plots of the cumulative grade point averages of these accelerates of all possible courses and of the non- accelerates. It will be observed that, except for irregularities and for the above-mentioned tendency toward more students with lower grade point averages for tne accelerate samples, the frequency distributions are very similar. The students with very high averages in the accelerate sample are largely gone, and the high-average portion of tne curves now are quite similar in all accelerate and non-accelerate curves. Thus when comparing those who really wanted to accelerate wherever possible with those who did not want to accelerate at all, there is no significant difference in their academic performance. 00': 31.11. 01- '-.i.-' ....3.-1L-. =..:"i.$ OF 2.2-1. JCT-17:33:11 ”03513.”: V3.» \- ‘ 3-. C's-14,4‘LLTJS "Fivsmuj 0 fr\ I I c——o, /.\ I?\\o'l R . 159 . 1,1,”; -_, \ / \r‘f—‘ZL 13': _ ACCELILLTEE / ‘.\O :50:- JJJJL L I 1'5 . , (g / g , 9 (1’ O \\ .' . I \\ / I \. / 0 I 0 g I O /Q\‘ / ‘ I ‘ . ' 0—0—0 / / 1 ‘ ’ I x 0-. IO 0 3/ e O ' 1 H ' ’ ‘ I . \I’o‘mx 1.50 2.00. ; 2.50 i 3.00 ~———l59 ‘ accelerates I I 03.11)}: 201m AVERIIGE FIGURE 5 I 1"” jI.flW OOI‘DARISOII 03? 11003111231335 0F ALI. couasés POSSIBLE 'Vs. NOIIJCCELERATES 9 SCPHOMORE I .7 9’2 .I / ’1 \ \7. ' I l ‘ I rcr’c-- ‘k‘ / b o. 0 ,;,..._,,.;,ii_,,,_',,\\ I I ' 131» I ' \O 30‘ p ‘ npn-accelu‘ tts 2 .50 , p 3.00 _‘ 90an AV Sit-.033 Regain ' W I 371 -'/}-I- , ‘, ‘ 7 - '. Ii .,_ 'I .x '. ' .--. I If| g:_ _ ._ ._: ,II' .. ._l , , -0. 59.1111. .10.. (.- .3-..u'..'1..-_1.{.'L.- “.1 U.) _...:.. ..J . u: . -‘-.‘JVI..1_-'.- 'L“ ‘ I I p I , -- h' “Oh—1.113.-.” ..... I.JIJI ‘ JUNIOR. 131-r , :IO:I_I:OO_ -:L.:‘.-:.-.. 4 '13 1 1° mean-53m .38 1130111101 ..._ ._.._. _ o J. .51) j. 2’.ng _ ‘ dep. J .UU J I-Jvr; v ,. "n 7 . V GILL-Lid P013: .L'IIJLLaGE I E‘i FJJLJ 7 r' 0” 1113110.. OF itchinus 0F 11.1. Owasas 201.51.15.31 .... ‘ ‘ _ -IOILAQCELERLJS ‘ IsaNLORI- " ' "I ‘ Li'lz' 20_ 5.": /O I /./\‘\ V ‘\: mqm¢9 -50... R I . .Mw « o I HmeH sH Pm PCmoflwfiH Hm mm mm mx. w u Eopocpm .3 38on meoSonama ca ma Haoo some mom mocosvonw Hwofipoaoose N oh; as 0 am on an a: ma mm mH Hapoe Amm.mwv hoa.omv Aam.eHv AHa.sHv AeH.mHv ANN.MHV Amo.av Asw.ev Ama.m v mmsausHsooa Inez HMH NH NH 0H NH mH om mH m ma Ama.emv AQH.ssV AsH.amv flam.Hgv Age.smv Awm.omi Ama.aHv AEH.mHv ANO.MHV aspaLsHmooa mam mo om an as am am 4H mH a OH a a a o m a m m .H .3909 cahoon 98.5 mxoomwozaa mqm0H WW MM pam0HNHanm .OOH.NH u .Jn m N u Eovomhw mo mmmnmmm mHmogpdmhmm ca mfl Hamo nomw now thvswwhw HmOHpmmoone :mN gm mm mm m: mN mN mm mH Hmpoe ANm.NHV ANo.NHV Ago.va AwH.NNv ANN.HHV Aom.HHV Amm.mHv nom.av HMH 0H mH 3H NH NH mH Hm HH wwpmgmHooomucoz AN4.0HV ANm.mHv Hmm.0Hv ANN.ONV AmH.HHv Amo.HHv Aoa.va HHN.mv mmmgsoo manflmmom Haw nma mm ma Hm ow Ha :H N w mo wmpmhmamoo< N m proe 0H m m N o m a m N H Quake oHHoma mme¢mmqmoo¢rzoz mo mfimMDOo mAmHmmcm HA< mo wme¢mmgmoo< Ozamm 924 Hmme .m.o.< 20 mmoow A¢BCB amazemm mHmmZOHB< BZHDL Mldmw Emmzoaaan Afimmadaw 22¢ me -86- - o - u . - u .. , ~ Q .- . . 1 . - .. , 1 u . . u . 1 - fact, in testing for significance of the difference of the means of men and women in the accelerate group, the means were not significantly different for the freshman, sophomore and junior years, but they were significant at the one percent level in the senior year. The same pattern follows for the non-accelerates, the only difference being that the significance found in the senior year was at the five percent level. These data are summarized in Table XII. TABLE XII TESTS OF SIGNIFICANCE, MEANS OF GRADE POINT AVERAGES OF MEN VS. WOMEN, ACCELERATES AND NON-ACCELERATES Accelerate Non-Accelerate School Year ' t t Freshman 0.101' 1.160“ Sophomore l.336— 1.919- Junior 1.86h' 1.668“ Senior 3.133* 2.1-2?“ - Not Significant * Significant at 1% Level, t 9 2.576 *% Significant at 5% Level, t = 1.960 To calculate these t values, the formula = X1." X2 t (h) 0—Diff was used. Inspection showed that segregating men and women had not appreciably changed the form of the resulting distributions from that of the total distributions. Since the chi square test had previously -57- shown that there is no reason to believe that the grade point averages of accelerates and non-accelerates were not normally distributed, the present distributions were assumed to be normal. 0n testing the variances of grade point averages for men and women in all four college classes to see whether the t ratio could be used, they were found to be not significantly different, as they had been in the comparison of the total accelerate and non-accelerate groups. Hence the t test for normal distributions were used. The best estimate of O'difference, which is mathematically Z(Xl - 71)2 + z(X2 - i2)2 0' . 8 - diff N1 + N2 _ 2 (5) was substituted in formula four. The formula was converted to use standard deviations instead of squares of differences from the mean, and the resulting formula was (fl - 352) [(N1 + N2 - 2) (N1N2)] 1/2 (6) 1 2 (Nl'o-lz " N2'Cr22)(Ni '* N9] / to where 21 and i2 are means, N1 and N2 are numbers in the two samples, and 5-1 and 0'2 are the two standard deviations. It will also be noticed in Table XI that the increases in grade point means from the freshman through the senior year for men accelerates are much the same as those for men non-accelerates. The means of these two groups increase progressively from the freshman year to the senior year in a very similar manner. The same sort of increase is apparent for grade point means of women accelerates and non-accelerates. This would be expected from the previous determination of increasing differ- ences in means from the freshman to the senior year for women over men. ~88- The difference is significant in the senior year. On inspection there seems to be no appreciable difference in increases in means of grade point averages for men accelerates as compared to men non-accel- erates. The same is true for women accelerates and non-accelerates. The non-accelerate groups, of course, have lower means in all cases. Thus the significant fact which arises out of the comparison of grade point averages of men and women accelerates and non-accelerates is that,as women progress through school in both the accelerate and non-accelerate groups, they gradually increase their original grade point superiority over men students, but the accelerates do not do so to any greater degree than do non-accelerates. The hypothesis that women students are significantly superior in grade point averages to men students in both accelerate and non-accelerate groups is accepted for the senior year, but must be considered rejected on a statistical basis for the freshman, sophomore, and junior years, although women in both groups do have better averages in these years. Transfer Students An interesting speculation on acceleration by examination can be made in considering the records of those students transferring to Michigan State College with at least a year at some other college or university. Do they accelerate more than four-year students? Most students making such a transfer lose some of their progress to- ward graduation in the process. The student may have started in a school using the semester system, in which case it is difficult to transpose exactly his credits to term credits. Usually he loses some credit and thus needs more than the normal amount of credits for graduation. Or some of his work at a previous college may not be -89- acceptable toward the degree which he is seeking at Micnigan State College. Thus he, as much as any college student, has incentive to accelerate by examination in the Basic College courses. Transfer students are held for certain Basic College courses if they cannot produce credits in similar or closely related courses. They must produce credits equivalent to five Basic College courses or make up the difference in the Basic College. Coming in as sophomores, or more often as juniors, these transfer students are already taking a great many advanced courses and so usually desire to get through the Basic College courses as rapidly as possible. Thus the incentive is great to accel- '& erate if possible. Of those graduating in June, 1953, 350 were transfer students. General data concerning them are presented in Table XIII. The transfer student sample eliminated from consideration the Literature and Fine Arts course, as did the original sample. There were no transfer students who accelerated this course. h notable thing about these data is that 8h.1 percent of the courses which it was possible for the accelerates to accelerate, based on the same standards for acceleration as the previous samples, were actually accelerated. Compare this to 56 percent for the accel- erates starting at Michigan State College. However, the ratio of those accelerating to those not accelerating who could have, is about the same for four-year students and transfer students, 2.65 to 2.31. The average number of courses accelerated by each transfer student is al- most as high, 1.51, as it is for the four-year student, 1.57, in spite of the transfer students taking only 2.h2 Basic College courses per -90 - 1. 2. 3. h. S. 6. 7. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. TABLE XIII GENERAL INFORMATION CONCERNING ACCELERATION FCR TRANSFER STUDENTS GRADUATINC 1N JUNE, 1953, AT MICHIGAN STATE COLLEGE L r Number Number Number Number Number Number graduating (less Vet. Medicine) taking at least one Basic College course accelerating at least one course of Basic College courses taken by accelerates of Basic College courses accelerated of courses accelerates could have accelerated Percentage of courses accelerated (5 divided by 6) Average number of courses accelerated per student Average number of courses which accelerates could have accelerated Number of non-accelerates who could have accelerated Number ated. of courses non-accelerates could have acceler- Average number of courses non-accelerates could have accelerated Number of transfer students who could not have accelerated 350 213 81 196 122 th 8h.1% 1.51 1.79 35 39 1.11 97 -91- student as compared to over four for the students starting at Michigan State College. Thus it can be seen that transfer students show a strong desire to accelerate by actually doing a great deal of it. A statistical analysis was made of the cumulative grade point averages earned at the end of the sophomore, junior, and senior year by the Mann-Whitney statistic to test the hypothesis that the accel- erates and non-accelerates of the transfer group were from the same population. The frequency distributions, plotted in Figures 9 and 10, Show that the distributions are far from normal and the chi square goodness-of-fit analysis of the junior data bears this out. Hence, a non-parametric analysis for significance of difference in grades, such as the Nann4Whitney statistic, was indicated. Tables XIV and XV give the means and tests for significance. It is apparent that the means of the grade point averages both of the accelerate and non—accelerate transfer students are very simi- lar to those of the accelerates and non-accelerates who started and finished at Michigan State College. Comparing the mean grade point averages of the accelerate and non-accelerate transfer students, how- ever, shows that the accelerates have a higher mean for each year, as was the case for the four-year graduates. The amounts of the differ- ences between accelerate and non-accelerate means are about the same as for the differences of means of the four-year students. However, when tested for significance by the Mann—Whitney Statistic, no significant difference is found, even at the five percent level, at the end of any school year for transfer students, while significance was indicated at the one percent level for freshman, sophomore, and junior four—year students, -92- u .. . I .. I I. . ll!!- II. n .1. II. . . n: . .Idl-u‘lalllill-l-I I. . I... - . Uni-l A. I i. ll . A . .|.Idu.n . .u‘ - E EQU FR FREQUENCY Nor 10 ' __/ '0 . 35 : 81 NONNACCELEIUITES .UGindi-H'JJS 5A5 j \E _ NH f ‘ ’: ' \\ ‘ /e~ofl«e’~ ‘ o . i ’ 0—-O\ ON -O. l Else] 5 7! e."-‘ ‘c\'¢/ 1.4 1.62 1.8 2 at» 2.6 I 3.2} 3.0 3.= -.o - I GRADE POINT AVE-RACE FIGURE 9 3 ‘ . :~ ‘ i ‘Cd-IPARISQN pr‘x-ccr-LERATN VS NON—.NCCELET m: ' ' ' l ' Chins pom- “Erin-CNS“ V . : .thll-TSFBR snmzmrs T SENIOR ‘2 . ' . 2 1 I ' - \ p ‘ ‘ '10 I i ‘ r . . ‘ .. 1 . l I l i .81 . 22222 2 . j p { l Naomi-mus >- 2 ~ f *- /\ ‘ - -5~~ ———B 5‘ 1 H 6 7'2.“ \l: l NON—ACCELEBATES ‘2../ X . . ,. , /. ‘ . .\ i H ‘(jj‘fix II\\ .I O, ‘ Q—O-—O/ C I I \ I. \ - - =" - - \/ x“, e—o\ 1,-- d~ /o\ .2. L ‘ r. ' I“. <19 , <9 /] o—o\: 0—0\ I - - . . -\\I - . , \ / O l J 3-“ ‘ 1 J l l l l - Al y' ’Ae’lfi 1."? 1.6 L.8 2.6 2.2-. 201‘“ 2.62 2.8 3.0 3'2 3'4 5-0 J0” "0 Cains POINT Air-times ‘ FIGURE-‘10 I - - E -93— TABLE XIV OOMPARISON OF MEAN GRADE POINT AVERAGES OF ACCELERATE AND NON-ACCELERATE TRANSFERS AND FGUR-YEAR STUDENTS TRANSFER FOUR-YEAR YEAR accel. non-accel. accel. non-accel. Sophomore 2.809 2.5h6 2.79h 2.650 Junior 2.852 2.701 2.8h1 2.717 Senior 2.880 2.7h5 2.881 2.779 TABLE XV SIGNIFICANCE 03 GRADE POINT AVERAGES FUR ACCELERATE AND NON-ACCELERATE TRANSFER STUDENTS'WUO GRADUATE - - By Mannéwhitney Statistic NUMBER IN SAMPLE YEAR t accel. non-accel. Sophomore 28 16 1.256- Junior 81 35 1.21h- Senior 81 35 1.1h3- - Not significant -9h- and at the five percent level for the senior four-year students. This lack of significance can be attributed to the much smaller numbers in the transfer groups than in the four-year groups, and to the lack of a distinct central tendency on the frequency curves for transfer students. The inference can be drawn, in spite of this lack of sign- ificant differences of means, that the transfer group is not much dif- ferent in its academic performance than the Tour-year students. 'While they are making more frequent use of their opportunity to accelerate, they are not superior scholastically to four-year accelerates. Summary The evidence supports the original hypothesis that accelerates perform in a significantly superior manner to non-accelerates through- out college. The factor causing the basic difference is found to be that the very superior students are accelerating frequently in almost all cases. Very few students not accelerating have the highest grade point averages. The accelerates with highest grade averages do not accelerate as frequently, percentage-wise, as do those with lower averages. ‘When those accelerating all the courses possible are segre- gated and analyzed against the non-accelerates, the significant difference in grade point averages disappears; in fact this accelerate group has lower averages at the end of all four years in college. The superiority of the accelerate group is supported by an analysis of A.C.E. Psychological Tests and Reading tests scores. Those in the accelerate group started college at a higher average score on these tests than did the non-accelerates. -95- —".‘ .u. T? When the accelerate and non-accelerate samples were divided into groups of men and women, women accelerates had a higher grade point average than men accelerates at the end of the freshman year, and they increased this difference as they progressed through college. The differences were not significant in the freshman, SOphomore, and junior years, but the difference was significant in the senior year at the one percent level. The same trend was found for women and men non- accelerates, the difference in grade point averages being significant at the five percent level in the senior year. Finally, students transferring to Michigan State College in their SOphomore or junior years achieve about the same mean grade point averages as do those students starting and finishing at Michigan State College. No significant differences are apparent by statistical analysis. -96- CHAPTER V COMPARISON OF WITHDRAWAL AND GRAEUATED ACCELPRATE AND NON-ACCELERATE STULENTS Many students who enter Michigan State College as freshmen do not graduate. For instance, in the class entering in Fall, 19h9, 62.9 per- cent withdrew. Most of them, however, remain at Michigan State College long enough to take several Basic College courses and thus have an opportunity to accelerate these courses if they can meet the require- ments for accelerating laid down in Chapter III and Appendix A. They also have the choice of accelerating or not accelerating. The idea has been advanced that the students who accelerate by examination are apt to stay in school longer and more likely to graduate than are students who do not accelerate. Lily Uetchen found this tendency at the Pennsylvania College forWomen.l The present chapter, then con- siders this aspect of acceleration, using those students starting as freshmen at Michigan State College in the Fall of l9h9. The selected sample is limited to those having the opportunity to accelerate at least one course and includes those graduating and those withdrawing. Some of the students in the previously used accelerate and non-accel- erate groups graduating in June, 1953, are thus eliminated because they started before or after Fall Term, l9b9. There were 63 accel- erates and 22 non-accelerates so affected, about the same ratio as were included in the original selection of these groups, 350 acceler- ates and 13h non-accelerates who graduated in June, 1953. The portion 1 Lily Detchen, oral communication, via Dr. L. B. Mayhew of the Board of Examiners, Michigan State College. of the sample used to test the hypotheses that accelerates stay in school significantly longer than non—accelerates and that signifi- cantly greater numbers of accelerates graduate than do non-accelerates consists of 293 accelerates and 112 non~accelerates who started in Fall term, l9h9 and graduated in June, 1953. The withdrawal group consists of ICE accelerates and 66 non-accelerates. Table XVI contains general information about those students who entered in Fall 01 19h? but withdrew before graduating. Of the l72h students who withdrew before graduation, 91h were requested to with- draw because of poor grades and an additional hh withdrew before any grades were earned. There were obviously very few accelerates in these two groups. The balance of tnose who withdrew, 765 students, were tze portion from which came the accelerates and non-accelerates used in this comparison. These students withdrew from college for a variety of reasons, roughly grouped by the Registrar's Office at Michigan State College into categories of transferring to another college, financial difficulties, marriage, illness, being recalled to active military duty, and "no reason given." No analysis of the group by reasons for withdrawal was attempted, since the data on reasons were far from complete. It might be remarked, however, that 3b of the 108 accelerates requested a transcript to another college. Nineteen of 66 non-accelerates asked for transcripts. This does not mean that all of these students were accepted at other colleges, how- ever. About 30 percent of both accelerate and non—accelerate withdrawals ‘Were not thinking of leaving college entirely but of changing colleges. -95- TABLE XVI GENERAL INFORHATION ABOUT WITHDRAWAL ACCELERATESAND NON-ACCELERATES ENTERING AS rhEsHMEN IN FALL,19h9 1. Total number of freshmen entering Pall, 19h9 2. Total number withdrawing before graduation 3. Total number requested to withdraw - poor grades b. Total number withdrawing, but not requested to do so 5. Number of withdrawals accelerating at least one course 6. Total number of courses accelerated 7. Average number of courses accelerated per student 8. Total number of courses which could have been accelerated 9. Average number of courses which accelerates could have accelerated 10. Number of students not accelerating who could have 11. Number of courses non—accelerates could have accelerated 12. Average number of courses non-accslerates could have accelerated 27h1 172h 959 765 108 16h 1.52 223 2.07' 66 117 1.78 -99.. It will be remembered that in the total sample of 1953 graduates the porportion of those accelerating to those not accelerating (but able to accelerate) was 356 to 13h or 2.66 times as many. The pro— portion of withdrawal accelerates to withdrawal non-accelerates is not that great, 108 to 66 or 1.63 times as many. This indicates that not as many students who withdrew are taking advantage of the acceler- ation opportunity, although those who do accelerate average about the same number of courses accelerated per student as do graduate accel- erates, 1.52 compared to 1.57. This is an indication that perhaps the hypothesis to be tested, that accelerates tend to stay in school longer and are more likely to graduate than non-accelerates, might have some basis in fact. The chi square test of independence was used, first, to test whether there was a relationship between being an accelerate or non- accelerate and remaining in school longer, and second, to test whether there was a relationship between being an accelerate or non-accelerate and graduating. The data needed to perform these tests are given in Table XVII. TABLE XVII WITHDRAWAL 0F ACCELERATES AND NON-ACCELERATES BY YEARS Accelerates Non-Accelerates No. withdrawing as freshmen 33 17 No. withdrawing as sophomores hh 31 No. withdrawing as juniors 27 1h No. withdrawing as seniors h h No. graduating 293 112 Totals hOl 178 -100- Grouping the data by years instead of by terms is necessary to provide enough cases in each category to allow proper testing by the chi square test. This does not change the grouping very much, since most of the withdrawals in any year except the senior year occurred at the end of the spring term. Both accelerate and non—accelerate groups showed this same pattern, and hence the final numbers of students in each category is not greatly affected by this consolidation. Also, to test by chi square, it was necessary to include the seniors with the junior groups. Again this does not present a serious difficulty since withdrawals in the senior year were confined to the tenth term, or one more term than the junior year. The results of the chi square test of independence, testing whether there is a relationship between being an accelerate and staying in school longer, are given in Table XVIII. The chi square value cal— culated is not significant at the five percent level, but it does fall just below this value found in the chi square tables, 7.815,and above the ten percent value, 6.251. Hence it would not take much of a change in numbers of students in any one cell in the proper direction to estab- lish this relationship as significant at the five percent level. It is to be remembered that for this comparison only those graduating accelerates who started in fallterm, l9h9, Were considered. Thus the total group of accelerates as originally selected from those graduating in June was reduced from 356 to 293. However, these 293 represent only those finishing in exactly four scholastic years. There are -101- semen-anew pom 62$ u do m a sopoohw mo mooumom mamospnonmm ca we Hana some nfi honmsvonm Hmowponoona mam mo: 2 ma. om 330,-. am .3: 69m: 633 Edd mwa NHH ma Hm NH mopmaoamoox mqm<9 -102- those who started in Fall term, 19b9, who took less than four years or more than four years to graduate and so were not considered. Thus the "graduated" category can be expected to increase for both accelerates and non—accelerates. If the class graduating in June, 1953, may be used as a guide, the proportion of accelerates to noneaccelerates not finishing in exactly four years will be about the same as the propor- tion in the original number of accelerates and non-accelerates. No particular bias is indicated in favor of accelerates or non-accelerates, and the value of chi square can hardly be expected to increase much when adding those accelerates and non-accelerates who did not finish in exactly four years to the total of those who did. A rather large increase in either the numbers of graduate accelerates or of graduate non-accelerates would be necessary to increase very much the chi square total, and this increase is not indicated by the above com- parisons. Hence, it can safely be said that there is no significant relationship at the five percent level between being an accelerate and staying in school longer, but that it is significant at the ten percent level. If the five percent level is rigidly adherred to, the hypothesis must be rejected, with the added comment that the evidence leans strongly toward there being such a relationship. When considering the hypothesis that significantly greater numbers of accelerates graduate than do non-accelerates, significance is found at the five percent level (Table XIX). Thus when all the accelerates and non-accelerates are totaled into groups of those who graduate and those who do not graduate the hypothesis is upheld (at .10 3 .. Hm>ma am was as pesoadaewam .mmo.e a m.x. H u sopooam Mo moohmom mammnpnohwd :a ma Hamo sown pow hegemony“ Hwoflpoaoona mam sea mos mempoe Aas.mmv Aam.smav wna co NHH wmpmaoaoooannoz lam.oNav . Ams.owmv do; mod mam mmpahmamooa mampoe mamemweepes mosmsemhe weaeaaeooauzoz mo meaemsmooa za GZHEm 92¢ UZHeasaamo ZMHZBmm memoneaqmm I BmQB mm4MA mmc&mm AOOIOm 2H mmdmw Zamzemm memonadgmm I BmHB mmmDOm Hmo Hxx mqm0.muo> I 32 00.0_EOI 0003 00.30FI confluwruwa 0%own H .00 0 000. En. I . . 32 0EE00 .00 I 3.03030 2002 .—> oanokuwmmmwwthhn .0 0.00 30...I 03020000 I 00.0% 30... RI 0000.0 0000 I I 0 . .300 000000.. .0...“ 00:me EuI «000w 23< 30.03 00.2 >00. 03.0 I 32 00000. BmI £000: 000.30 ..< .: :0030U 00.500.000' , 0.0002 00. 50.08 000.00E.0.0om 000.00853on.I .flocm .00_m 0.30:0. 00E00 00.00 I .0005 0.000 0.2.30. 000.0000 0 . 300030 E00”. .usI . 02:00 000 00:0 >_ 03.0 >085...I 22 02 EI 30 82805 RSI .082 .20: UmZI E300“. 05:30.00EI :0 0200 Email 020 0.8I 00:83 0EE00 00.0.mI 03.0 00.0.0020 0>..0.0000UI 8:30 oEosI 2000 0 teal £0 0:00 ososI 069M 9.02 RBI . 0002 00.06 .dI 2000.000 00< 0.0 00.08 0000E0000 (I .0 as .m 2.0qu 8.0 8:838 000xuoII :0030U :0... 00000637000. 0.000.03I 02030.0... I 03.0 00.0 MO0E0>9 I 0.00.0000 0.00m I 03.0 00.0 @002 I 00 0.00% 0:03.... I . 0:00:000I 00.003 0000 E00“. I 0000 I 0.31 00.003 .03... .0< I 00.000.0000> I 0302 0.0.mI 00.10% I 00. 200$? I 0.000000: I 0.000% I 000000.05 I 0.0.00..I 0030.30...0oI 03000.. 00.00 0.000.03I tool 0.00m 00.0:I :09ng 0000000050 .00030mII 00.000”.I :0030U 0.00..0I-000I >003ou 9.0qu :0030U 0.00.2I 00.xomI ..003ou B.0.0.0¢-..0.0.I _.00000.momI .0030 00.09.00. I :000momI 00:00:03. 00 00000I 0“. ..>a ....0>I0:0_£/.....u< 000.300 .3< 00.000. 00000000 50> 0.00000 00 :3, 00:00:80. 0.0.0 0000000000 .0 0000 0.200 x 00 000.0 .0050 00 .. 00> 0.0. 0. 000090.000 00 :05 30> 00.03 0. 00.02.00 8.0 000000. 0 00 30> 00.0; .0 00000000000 00.32.00 0... 000.00 .3 0.0000 0 000.0 0000.0. 3.00.3: 2000. «002:2 hzmonhm illcfi mm :1. J A.) radii... 24 0.. ... .0 a. .401... a 43 my. .5. «u 0.01%” ._ . _.. . . .- . . u. 0 .. . ... . ._ 0...... n. 0 r .l/l\<’.f flat/INF“ Lift.” .: w . . 2.1..1. . . _. fur/V («IFS ll. 1.. Fit Nm - Ra— oxoumx >P.>_.—.U< thoahm .U.m.2 3.22 D 0.00.0“. D 0.03. 000 0.00.0 I .U00mv I...m In; I.Om IQ“. “mmO_U Figure 11 -130- CARD CORD T)?‘ LLJ—J IT fi.CTIVlTY I J. "' FTUDE C‘ 00.0.b. ,1 20.05.0205. 02:50 22:0 .>_x :00300 >.00..0.0> I .0omm< .002 ..0> 000..00.< I 00.0.00} 00> ._:x “00.0.. .00 32.2.0.4. 000 0.0 00.0 03.0 0.000.000 .0003 3.39m 03.0 0003 .9000 0000-05 a 8:80 050.0 020 00:00.52 002 0.0.0.300 0.0.. 03.0 .000..00.0.0_ 000,90. 0.00005 .000000000. 03.0 .620... 03.0 00E.00 :00300 008.000.“. 03.0 0.“. .m. 03.0 .0003.m 0000.00 03.0 00.00000 03.0 00.< 88.0 £0 9.02 03.0 000.030.000.02 .2000 000 00.30» 0020200000 00.0.59 805 a 0500 00:00“. 00.0.00 00.05 .._x .00 0.0m I 02.80 as. .0 2.2:. 8.00 9.02 I 0005 .00 9.02 I 0000.00 ._x 80-0 z_ 0.20:; 0. 00 .000 00...; 0.0.0 0000.0 0000 .0 >...0.om 5.0.0.0... .0.00m 0 0. 000.00 30> U.. {0390/ (02> 0.00.0020“. 00.02.00 00..00m 03.0 00.0302 .0omm< .0003.m 00.00.30 02.00030“. .02.... 0:00 0EE00 00300 .0003.m 09.2.00 0.0 0000.0m 00......00 020 03.280 08.0 0 0.8080 I 00.00 085.0 I 00.9... a 8.. RI 2. £0 E. I 50 080.0 I .0008 ..< 0_oc. .00 9.02 200» I x'llllllllll 2.0.028. 00.0.m 30.. I .0605. 0.03% I 00.0 0.0.05. 00000m I a 0:00 oEmaI ,(.< 3 0:30 0.000 I 002.0% 00005? 00......0063 00..00m 00E>>om 00..00m 03.0 3000.0 I 0:00 00000. .0 I 000.< 3<< .00 I 020 .0060. I 030 2882. I 030 00 I 0.0.: 0002 .00 I 8.0 9.09.0 5:00 I n.30 3 I 0.00000E0.0 I 0.0.00..... 0.. I 00.00.00 I .0 0.000 00000. I 03.0 000-50 I 20.6.00 .000..00.0.0. I 05000.0 I .0m 0.2. .00. I n.20 9.090 002 I n.20 02%| 020 05:8 005. I 229620 I 0:00 .00 0:00 I 00.0.0.0 0:00 I .8000... 0.00.0..00I 0.0.0090 .0 0:30 000..0E n.20 9.6.0 092 I 000.0m 000.0 I 00000. .00 0:00 I 3.2 00.0.00 2.00 I 3.0.0.0.. .000.0< I 0.030 00..00m I . Figure 12 --131- Hence the first step in testing this hypothesis was to tabulate the total number of organizations to which each student filling out the card belonged. An obvious weakness in this sort or analysis is that some students belonged to the organizations longer and participated to a greaterextent than others. It was originally hoped to overcome this by having the student indicate how long he had belonged to each organization. However, stadent cooperation on this pointvvas poor and it was necessary to abandon this portion. At any rate, if the accel- erates have the supposedly aggressive personalities, it would seem that they would join more groups than non-accelerates, as well as participate to a greater extent in those groups they did join. The comparison still seems valid. Hence the number of organizations includes any to which the student may have belonged, regardless of length of time. The organizations i also include some which are honorary because they require certain grade point averages. These were included because it was felt that the fact that a student accepted membership indicated a desire to excell, and ‘was the same type of achievement as making a varsity team, also in- cluded, or any other where a certain ability is required. These are all part of social acceptance in the college picture. Also it must be remembered that similar distributions of grades are included in both the accelerate and non-accelerate groups, so there is equal oppor— Ulnity for both accelerates and non-accelerates to be elected. 0f the activities most frequently written in by the students, Participation in dormitory activities, student dance promotions, and career carnivals were most frequently mentioned. These are valid inclusions. -132- The offices fliich the students indicated they had held, such as the usual president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer of organ- izations, were counted. In addition, important committee chairmanships for school dances and similar activities, editorships on student pub- lications, resident assistantships in dormitories, and the like were included. ACTIVITIES AND ulFlUES HELD Figure 13 is a frequency distribution plot of activities of accel- erates and non—accelerates. A distinct similarity of shape is noted in the two curves. The median for the accelerate group was ho8 activ- ities compared to h.7 activities for the non—accelerates. The chi square test of independence was applied to the data, testing that there was no relationship between being an accelerate and participa- tion in number of activities. If there is such a relationship, the computation will show a significantly large chi square value. The chi square value determined was 5.18h as shown in Table XXIX. .This is not significant at the five percent level. Thus the distributions of accelerate and non-accelerate activities are such that they can be said with confidence to have no significant difference. It was neces- sary in making this chi square test and those that follow to combine the categories "no—activities" and"one~activity" for both accelerates and non-accelerates into one cell because of fewer than five values in the zero category. The same procedure was used for eight activities and above, for the same reason. This throws some doubt on the results, but the calculated chi square value, falling as it does between 70 and -l33~ 5'}! LCY 1 F030 ' .~—— ACCELERATES 2') _-,-, \ . .\ /. . ‘ . . y . ‘ ' 'NON— ‘ ' ACGEL.-;;mTL-;.5 *0"I9{”’ . . , r, O—O.\ . ~ /. - . ‘ -/ , . , ‘o‘ ,o , 5 v . , o ‘o’ \ -/ - - 0 ,. , \ ., /\ . . / w -. «‘x /‘ ‘ 0' - ‘ I I ‘0.- o \ ‘1‘ . \n A 5 10 V 15 Ho.ior'0CrIvz-:ms -13h- Hence the first step in testing this hypothesis was to tabulate the total number of organizations to which each student filling out the card belonged. An obvious weaKness in this sort of analysis is that some students belonged to the organizations longer and participated to a greaterextent than others. It was originally hoped to overcome this by having the student indicate how long he had belonged to each organization. However, stldent cooperation on this pointvwas poor and it was necessary to abandon this portion. At any rate, if the accel- erates have the supposedly aggressive personalities, it would seem that they would join more groups than non-accelerates, as well as participate to a greater extent in those groups they did join. The comparison still seems valid. Hence the number of organizations includes any to which the student may have belonged, regardless of length of time. The organizations i also include some which are honorary because they require certain grade point averages. These were included because it was felt that the fact that a student accepted membership indicated a desire to excell, and was the same type of achievement as making a varsity team, also in- cluded, or any other where a certain ability is required. These are all part of social acceptance in the college picture. Also it must be remembered that similar distributions of grades are included in both the accelerate and non-accelerate groups, so there is equal oppor- tunity for both accelerates and non-accelerates to be elected. 6f the activities most frequently written in by the students, participation in dormitory activities, student dance promotions, and career carnivals were most frequently mentioned. These are valid inclusions. -132- J The offices‘fllich the students indicated they had held, such as the usual president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer of organ- izations, were counted. In addition, important committee chairmanships for school dances and similar activities, editorships on student pub- lications, resident assistantships in dormitories, and the like were included. ACTIVITIES AND DEFICES HELD Figure 13 is a frequency distribution plot of activities of accel- erates and non—accelerates. A distinct similarity of shape is noted in the two curves. The median for the accelerate group was h.8 activ- ities compared to b.7 activities for the non-accelerates. The chi square test of independence was applied to the data, testing that there was no relationship between being an accelerate and participa- tion in number of activities. If there is such a relationship, the computation will show a significantly large chi square value. The chi square value determined was 5.18h as shown in Table XXIX. AThis is not significant at the five percent level. Thus the distributions of accelerate and non—accelerate activities are such that they can be said with confidence to have no significant difference. It was neces- sary in making this chi square test and those that follow to combine the categories "no-activities" and"one-activity" for both accelerates and non-accelerates into one cell because of fewer than five values in the zero category. The same procedure was used for eight activities and above, for the same reason. This throws some doubt on the results, but the calculated chi square value, falling as it does between 70 and -133~ F. 5, w.- r- . I I e— - w l i ' E 3 II vu l' .. _ '0 _ f , , . .n- t , ' 7* ”a _ 4 , - i i 7 ‘ > . a" , ‘7 Ir ’v'u '" ‘ ‘l I I. | I, t . l - ,L-a .. -. IE}? CY Fifi-2L); (\3 H O AGGELERATES‘ : ilil,i"41 >\ ,,o\ ' O i, : $ \\ "‘ “ " ' ' ' ‘ " ':“: "i‘ ‘“ ‘ ‘ 3’ "t ‘ "i : : ‘g ‘2‘ w M ‘.1 /\ . .. , . , . .‘ ‘, y ‘ , ‘ w ‘/ \ ;, ) “ ‘7 “1 / “' ' '\ ./ \7 " /. . "' "z’ 1", :1“ ‘ . . v Q. ..... ,,‘ p . v . 1 p 7‘ D, “ --‘ *KO/ \O\" \0/'\ > ‘ JL‘, 1, ‘ l 13 m 15 , 20, ‘WH”*§V'Q a; (DA . . , , ‘ 1 . , ‘, 7 “A fl ;1 l; ‘ HO. OF ACTIVITIdS A 2"‘3‘y¢*fiffrv+ 1 p :' i ‘1 I '1“ v ‘ FIGURE 13 -13h— pcmofiwflcwflm poo «:wa.m u NJ» w u Eovocpm mo momswmm nanoseconmm ca mw Have some new hosmdvohm Hmoflpohoone Ham mm Hm gm om am a; an Hm mampoe Amméd Rmé Gal: 8?: Ammdd 85.3 80.8 amid mm m o m o w w OH 0 mpmnoacoom -coz 30.3 2.3: $0.3 3.va Eda 63.3 RES Edd mmm 2 ma ma 4.0. 3 mm mm ma opmpoaoooa Hmpoa po>o no m w w m a m m filo QSOAo 28d§ufi8®5.3.$8§z 20HeHHo¢ ha mmmzbz ZMHBBmm mHszOHemqmm I swag wx xHxx mqmde ~135- 50 percent in the table, indicates that, in spite of this, results can be used with a good deal of confidence. Figure IL is a frequency distribution plot of the number of offices held by accelerates and non-accelerates. Again the shapes of the curves are similar enough to indicate that no relationship exists between number of offices and being an accelerate or a non— accelerate. The similarity of the median number of offices held, l.h for accelerates and 1.3 for non-accelerates, augments this. The chi square test further proves it. Assigning the number of offices held by each group to cells of zero, one,two, and three and over, and calculating the value of chi square, the result is 3.590, from Table XXX.. This value is again not significant at the five percent level. Thus again no relationship is indicated; accelerates are likely to hold as many offices as non—accelerates. Thus, for the total group of accelerates answering the question- naire, compared to the total group of non-accelerates answering, the results indicate that the accelerates participate in college extra: curricular activities about as much as do non—accelerates, and that they hold about as many offices. Using the median values of numbers of these activities and offices, they do participate slightly more although not significantly so. It might how be argued that among the accelerate group are those who accelerate only an occasional course and that these unduly influ- ence the results. These may not be the students who would evidence the aggressive personality which Mayhew says should be demonstrated by participation in extra-curricular activities. To test the hypothesis -136- .. .- . ll - y - -. - Us . . , . . .... _ I z | . . .'.J.J-...I_.. .l - '. u . ' I- '.uu.t1g;_a I.-- 1.40 Q\ Q) iguana-nus ,7 p ‘ ~ g - m : - g, > w; ‘70. Fasqumzcr (9“ 130.}. n..." . ..,.. \\ .‘nVLIILA-I‘LLELIH ‘ . , ~ to \‘x \ U _‘z‘ 1+:WAo a“ ‘13" :20. 0:4 orrmss a»: 1 ‘ ‘ ” “was; 14 m : i ‘ '-i37- pewOHHHQMWm pee .omm.m u on m u Eocmmhm Ho mmmhmom mamonpsmbmm Ga ma Have some now hocodvonm Hdbflpmhoons Hem Hm me so add asses Amm.oav Amm.a v Amo.mav Aom.4mv mm e on ea mm mmpmtmaoooaneoz “m4.oav Aae.mmv Amm.mmv A44.va mwm m: mm m: :m / wopwamamoo< hm>o .Ho m N H O mawpoe macaw vamr cocamwo go nonssz zomeammqmooflpoq mo #09892 onaqxflgm00¢lzoz O mmmmsoo mAmHmmom QA4 Q0 nQaEfiflfiAmood 22¢ waHefi>HBo¢ m0 mmmflbz 3 .MEEEmm mHmmeHadqmm I emme am¢mom Ham HX%x mqmo no 0 m a m NIO fleece macaw mmapa>apo< do amnesz zoae¢qumo04r202 mo AmMmmbOO mmoz mo NV mmmmboo mqummOm AA¢ mo ZOABHBo¢ m0 xmmzbz zmmzemm mHzmonBw oe mompdoo monHoo cemmm Romeo mo GQHp Imoflamdv Uflo>m OB Hoonom swag CH omnopoo HHo3.mvmma tam mmmhdoo mo soap anflHadc vfio>m oe whack noeflom e mOHGSm esp he Umoa mmhsoo one ammo 09 nmqoom momhsoo pmopopce MOnmE oxmp op mane on 0% amnoom momhsoo o>HpooHo oxmp op case on 09 .m .m .H zcmHC mzomamm m6 Mozmbommm -157- .commmh s .mce new copam mxomno Hence we m one mmndoo zoom mom mqssaoo m mmmnsoo hp scape n.n H.0m e.Hm m.m «.ma m.:m -noamooa mo mmmpcmohmm 00H mwoa mxomno Hmpoe Mon a m a o 0 mm m mm m mm m o 0 me m -osppmsa mafia p.seam .ma pa m em a e N ma m me : m.m H mm o Hm w emma>em hoposppmce .HH mosmpnoaea mo wee : mm m ea 0 mm m ea 0 m a Hm Ha aa : -amme a we w>aw pH .oa mmhsoo mo soaps 4 an o o 0 mm 3H mm OH 0H 4 m m mm ma upmommnd use Coep uwNficmmao coxflamfla .a pampcOo owwdoo m mm H m n mm ma mm 0H 4 m e 4 mm ma ca empmmnmpca poz .w 0 me a ma w cw ma om ma a m ea Ha we 4H nmqoom mpmsemam oe .e condom common .02 “mm had Hahm a .02 a . a [a .92 a .cz a .02 a .92 mmwwmmmwmmmw O\ HQPO—H. 'gmc 000$ Odom .mom .mom omom Omomoz Aemscapcoov xexex mamas ~158- each course. in fact, there was an average of l.h9 reasons given per course accelerated. Included in the table are the number of checks given for each reason ior each course. Beside each number is the percentage oi tnose checks given for each reason which were ap- plied to each course. The last line in the table shows the amount of acceleration done in eacn course, expressed as a percentage of the total acceleration in all courses. These percentages were used to note those reasons in which there was an obvious deviation in percentage of checks in any course from the expected percentage as measured by the percentage of acceleration in the course. It will be noticed that the reasons which were most frequently checked where tnose of being atle to take elective courses sooner and being able to take major-interest courses sooner. These are similar reasons, both oi them indicating that students who accelerate did so because they probably felt that the Basic College courses were not what they came to college to take. They were interested in getting into their major areas of specialization sooner, where they thought they had a more specific interest. These two items were checked by about 23 and 20 percent of d.l the accelerates. Frequently theyvvere both checked by the sane person. These combined reasons constitute the principal purpose of these students in accelerating Basic College courses, as shown by their replies. it should also be mentioned that these reasons were used in the various courses in proportion to the percentages of acceleration in the courses. There is no apparent reason why they should accelerate for this particular reason in one course more than in any other, and they did not do so. -159- Anotwer reason checked frequently was that of easing tne course load in the junior and senior years. About 15 percent of all the accelerates checked this. The idea behind this reason is contrary to the thought generally advanced in support of acceleration by examination, that students are freed by acceleration from something which they already know so tiat they may take other more challenging courses. There may be some justification for easing course loads in engineering and public school music curricula where more credits are needed to graduate. The engineering students did a good deal of accelerating, he of 130 engineers in the graduating class being accelerates. Thirty—three of then returned the questionnaire, about the same proportion returning it as for the entire sample. Engineering students accelerated an average of 1.82 courses per person, which amounts to a total of 60 courses accelerated. There were only three public sonool music students who accelerated. Two oi these returned the questionnaire. They accelerated three courses between them. Thus the total reasons Checked by the accelerates who would have good reason to accelerate to ease course loads in later school years should not be more than 65, ii they average about 1.89 reasons checked, as did the entire group. But tnere were 156 checks made for this reason. Hence a logical conclusion is that a large propor— tion of tne accelerates are making use of acceleration for a reason somewhat contrary to one purpose of acceleration. It might be argued that accelerates could then do better work in other courses if they took lighter loads, and this may be so, but Pressey and ~160- llesher ieel that the better students do not have enough to do to fully utilize their abilities when taking the usual course load per term.1 The grade point averages attained by the accelerate group identiiies them as the better students, at least as a group. It would seem tiat acceleration to take lighter course loads could not be reasonably justified, yet many of the accelerates in this class say they accelerated ior this reason. Three reasons for accelerating which might be grouped under the heading of duplication of other courses or experiences were checked by about a total of 20 percent of those responding. Of these, duplication of courses already well covered in high school (in the student's opinion) was checked by half of them. The Basic College course in which the greatest amount of duplication was noticed was hritten and Spoken Englisl. Here hO percent of the checks were found, while only 25 percent of the acceleration was done in this course. Biological Science also shows 25 percent of the checks for this reason, but only 19 percent of the acceleration was done in this course. All other courses showed a smaller per— centage of checks than of those accelerating the courses. The greater desire to accelerate'Written and Spoken English and Biological Science may be the nature of the courses themselves or it may be the result oi better high school preparation than is assumed in these two courses. l. S. L. Pressey and harievFleSher, ”An Analysis oi the Efiects of College Accelerationfl,Educational Administration and SuperVision. 30 (l9bh): p.366. ~161- Duplication in Basic College courses was not checked fre— quently except in Social Science and Effective Living. only 29 checks were found for this kind of duplication and 2b of them were in these two courses. That the students were not the only ones who felt that t ere was some overlap in these areas is shown by the action of the ieculty at Lichigan State College in making one course of these two when the Tasic College was reorganized in 1953. Hhile this is not direct evidence of overlapping, the iaculty at least considered them closely related. Duplication of other experiences was considered a reason for acceleration by stout seven percent of the accelerates. Here, the distr tution oi checks was similar to the pattern of acceleration by octrses except in Effective Living, where there was a slightly C greater percertage of cVecks, acd in history 0; Civilization, where there was a slightly smaller percentage. An inference which could be drawn is that for all Basic College courses some students feel that experiences gained in other places than in high scaool and other Basic College courses made these courses less necessary for them. It must be mentioned that these Basic College courses have undergone revision since tnese s udcnts took them, and that these inferences do not qiply to tue present Basic College courses. Accelerates checked the hope for earlier graduation as a reason in about six percent of the cases. It would not be expected that the pe‘~ centage of student checks on this item would vary much from the per- centages of accelerates in the various courses, and no appreciable variation was iound. This is one reason which could be readily checked to see whether the accelerates who said they accelerated to graduate -162— early really did so. Thirty—one students gave this reason, checking it oh times. Of the 31, 11 actually graduated earlier, four of them in one term less than four years, two of them in two terms less, and five of them a full year earlier. Seventeen accelerates gave this reason but took the full four years to finish, while three actually took more than four years, two of them five full years. Thus about a third of those who accelerated to graduate early actually did so. It is interesting to note that, of the eleven who did graduate early, four of them accelerated only one course and three of them two courses, hardly enough saving in course time to gain more than half a term toward graduation. it is apparent that t ese seven of the eleven were using other means of acceleration, such as summer sessions or heaVier course loads, to achieve their goal. However, the eleven who graduated early accelerated at almost every opportunity, passing up only six courses among them wnich they could have acceler— ated. These, then, were using almost the full opportunity to acceler- ate by examination as an aid in finishing college earlier, but they accelerated by other means as well in order to accomplish it. Inciden- tally, the freshman grade point average of these ll accelerates was 2.90, slightly higher than the 2.77 fresnman average of all accelerates. By the end of the senior year these averages were 2.98 and 2.b9, re— spectively. Thus these eleven accelerates who did finish college early were not much superior academically to all those who accelerated. Two other reasons for accelerating were concerned.with course ~163- content and organization and presentation of Basic College courses. About five percent of those accelerating checked lack of interest in the content,and they specifically emphaSized'Uritten and Spoken English, Social Soience, and (to a lesser degree) Ef- fective Living as the courses which they disliked. About four percent checked the reaccn, "dislike of organization and presenta- tion of the course." Again these three courses were prominent. These three seem to have been the unpopular courses with a few of the accelerates. Very likely about the same ones checked both reasons, since the division by courses is much the same. A reason having to do with student prestige, receiving a feeling of 'mportance from accelerating, was checked by somewhat less than four percent of the studen 5. Biological Science and History of civilization were checked in greater percentage than the percentages oi those accelerating these courses. These, then, can be presumed to be the more challenging courses from.which satis- faction in the acceleration achievement could be derived. however, since only four percent 01 the total group checked this reason, it cannot be said to assume much importance in student thinking about acceleration at Michigan State College. Of the two remaining reasons listed, less than three percent checked the reason that the course instructor advised acceleration. These are checked by courses in about the same propaction as the percentage of acceleration by courses. Nothing much can be said about this as a reason for acceleration except that, from the small number who listed it, the instructors were not doing much specific recommending of acceleration, if these checks are a correct indica- tion. Yet 56 percent of those eligible were actually accelerating. A variety of reasons for accelerating were Twritten in by the students in the space provided on the questionnaire. Only one of these was repeated more than twice. This was the reason, "to get it over with." Ten checks were found here, four of them in'firitten and Spoken English and three in Biological Science. This reason could very well be lumped with not being interested in course content and with disliking the organization and presentation of the course, in wiich'Uritten and Spoken English was checked most frequently, but not Biological Science. Some of the added reasons offered were "a challenge to try," "to allow more time for another Basic Collage course," "to be able to do more outside work," "to reduce the number of comprehensive examinations coming at the same time," and the like. It is possible that had these reasons been listed on the questionnaire they would have received considerably greater support. it is felt, however, that the Questionnaire got at the principal reasons for acceleration as done at tne time the students graduating in Spring, 1953, were tacing the Basic College courses. Reasons for not Accelerating Both accelerates and non-accelerates were asked in the instruc- tions accompanying tne questionnaire to check reasons for not ac— celerating Basic College courses which they were eligible to ac— celerate. The form for them to check is given on page two of the questionnaire, Appendix C. The reasons listed for not accelerating were obtained from the free-response sampling mentioned in the previous section. It will be noticed that the courses wnich each student could have accelerated but did not accelerate were not listed in advance on the individual questionnaire, as were the courses which each student accelerated. It would have been desirable to do so. It was necessary to get the questionnaire to these senior students, about to graduate within a very few days, before they left the campus permanently. Time was not available to do an effective job of selecting those courses which could have been accelerated but were not. To facilitate analysis it was decided to combine the reasons given by the non-accelerates, who did not accelerate any Basic College courses, with those given by accelerates who did not accelerate .EEEE of the courses. No appreciable differences in trends were noticed from the tabulation of reasons given by the two groups for not accelerating. The ranking of the reasons in order of number of checks for each was in the same order. The two groups checked each reason by courses in a very similar manner, although some differences were apparent here. These differences did not change appreciably the overall patterns; hence, it was felt that the results could be combined. It must be remembered that these students polled are being asked to recall why they made certain decisions about acceleration as much as three years earlier. The results cannot be treated as other than an indication of trends. This is, of course, true also for the results found when analyzing the reasons for acceleration. -166- A tabulation of the reasons for not accelerating fnom the combined accelerate and non-accelerate groups is given in Table XL. This treatment is similar to that used for the reasons for acceleration, Table XXXIX. The average number of reasons check- ed per student was l.8h, similar to the 1.89 checks per student on reasons for accelerating. The percentages of non-acceleration in each course are included as the last line in the table. These were used, as in the analysis of the accelerate data, by comparing them to the percentage of checks for each reason by courses. Any ]- marked deviation in number of checks per course from that expected could thus be revealed by a difference in percentages. The reason most often checked was that the student was in- terested enough to want to complete the course. About 30 percent of all these students checked this reason. This is, of course, a desirable goal in all courses, and it is gratifying to see that it is the principal reason checked. It is evident that History of Civilization was attracting a higher percentage of checks in relation to those expected, than any other course. This is a good indication that it was an effective course from the viewpoint of student interest. Social Science, and particularly Effective Living, on the other hand, were below their expected percentages, and so were not viewed by the students as doing as effective a job in keeping students interested as History of Civilization. The other Basic College courses were about as expected. -167- Apodcfipcoov Hoogom mpmdpmhw 2H no macapspfipm 2 mm m m we m m m m H 3 OH 3 3 12a hat 8. wfihfl nmcwhp ca popmmoom on non pados pfipoho .m convene me «0 E S S a 3 OH m m am 8 ma m .583 was. new seat on mafia pwzoqo 902 .4 opmhw 3 me mm fl NH 3 ma OH m m R S 3 NH hawEmoéwmw SA Hwfinmpws menace wanna Sofia: coda Hm am am pm a n ma HH m w hm mm ma ma ncfismxo m>chmnona 1200 when on vacuum :68 Home. non can H .m ownsoo mpmamsoo Hm mmH mm pm m Ha m HH 3 m on pm 0H ma on age: op smdodo vopmonwpnfl mm: H .H condom commom .02 E ha 38 a .02 h .02 a .oz m .02 k .3 n .02 ocwmofimmmmmmm & Hmpoe .noo .o.m .A.m .m.m .m.m .w.m .m.m.3 p m wawmzoo mumHmmom A44 2H A” aqmflm mxoono Hmpop Mo R can mmasoo some now massaowbm ma ON 2H mm Ha mdpmmmOQ mmz moapmaoHooow cons soapmnwflmoomnnoc mo wmmhdoo hp pnmonmm 00H mam wheeze Hesse om mm m ma H mm m mm Ha om 4 OH m memamamoom op manawaam mm: H sandman so: ewe H .a wagon mcflsoaaow ca mmmao nmzomep anSOHpamd m pcoppm op penance H .0 commmm gum Q A.” condom pom aspen .oz ammo [£06 m .02 R .02 m .02 \m .02 R .02 a .02 000.1 O‘HOMIL... .w.m .m.m .mOm .m.m.a wcfipmhmaooo< pom pom whommom Apozcfipnoov AN mqm¢e -169- A second reason checked frequently was that the student did not feel competent to pass the comprehensive examination without taking the course. In this group may be those students who were studying the particular course area for the first time or at least had little contact with it, and, while they made good grades, they did not feel competent to attempt acceleration on material not covered in class. It might be expected that this reason would draw a greater number of checks than 21 percent of those who could have checked it. That it did not do so may be some reflection on the regard with which students held most Basic College courses. Again it will be noticed that they regarded History of Civilization as difficult because they check this course when they use this reason in greater proportion than the proportionate numbers who could have accelerated the course. On the other hand, the number checking this reason in the Effective Living column was very much lOWer than the expected level, indicating by inverse reasoning that students felt confident that they could pass J the Effective Living comprehensive examination, but did not attempt it for other reasons. The balance of Basic College courses are checked in about the expected percentages. Students always seem interested in obtaining better grades, and 16 percent gave this as a reason for not accelerating. No comment seems necessary on this reason, except to say that all courses were checked about as expected. Fifteen percent of those returning the questionnaire and checking the form on not accelerating said they did not feel they had enough -170- time to study for the examination. Surprisingly, the distribution of checks was about as expected. It would seem logical that History of Civilization might be more frequently checked. While it was above its expected average, it was not much above. About ten percent of the students not accelerating checked the reason "credit would not be accepted on transferring to other institutions or in graduate schools" if they accelerated. They seemed most apprehensive about Written and Spoken English. These ten percent can be assumed to be those thinking of transferring or of entering a graduate school other than at Michigan State College. Their apprehension had some basis, in that a few professional schools at other institutions do not accept credit earned by ac- celeration.1 The apprehension was misplaced by those students in its relation to written and Spoken English. Not many students were motivated to pass up accelerating be- cause they wished to attend a particular teacher‘s class. The five percent who checked this reason did so predominantly in Biological Science and History of Civilization. These departments apparently had one or more staff members who were considered to be outstanding teachers. Not many reasons were added to this list by students writing them in. In only one case did a student say that the instructor advised against accelerating, two others were in special classes which did not permit ta terms when accelerat- ing by this method only. It is also clear that those who accelerated by examination did not frequently accelerate by other means such as heavier course loads or by going to summer sessions. The accelerates put much emphasis in their expression of reasons for accelerating on being able to take lighter course loads in the junior and senior years. Thus acceleration in the Basic College was not contributing to the more rapid progress through Michigan State College of those who accelerated. It was, however, serving the function of relieving a great many students of taking Basic College courses in areas where they had had enough background to be able to pass the comprehensive examination. l. S. L. Pressey, op. cit., p. 28 -189- Recommendations for Further Study Certain limitations became apparent when those contained in the sample chosen were used to test certain of the hypotheses. The por- tion of the study involving testing whether accelerates of two terms of a Basic College course were achieving as Well as those who had had the entire Basic College course in certain upper-school courses was one of these. Even though the group included 106 students who accelerated two terms of a Basic College course, there were too few (26 accelerates) who had had the courses desired within a reasonable time after the Basic College course was taken to make up a sample as large as desired. Thus it was necessary to limit the interpretation of results to this small sample. Such a study, it seems, is fundamental to setting policy on acceleration, since obtaining the results that Van Der Jagt and the writer have shown, that these accelerates do achieve as well in certain upper-school courses as non-accelerates who have had the entire course, eliminates a strong argument against acceleration by examination. Van Der Jagt's work was done on courses following Biological Science, while the present study attempted to expand the method to all areas. The sample size limitations and to a certain extent the course choice for comparison make the present results some— what uncertain. Hence it is suggested that this phase of the study be expanded to larger numbers of students in the sample and perhaps to upper—school courses in which close correlation between Basic College course content and their content have been carefully integrated by the departments concerned. Only in this way would the present answer to the question be really well verified. -190... Another limitation appeared in testing the hypothesis that ac- celerates tended to graduate in greater numbers than did non-ac— celerates. The original group chosen from which to take the ac- celerate and non-accelerate saLples was the class graduating in June, 1953. The principal reasons for this choice were that the records from WthL it was necessary to work were more readily avail- able and that these students Were still in college so that informa- tion could be gotten from them directly. however, when studying students who withdrew, it was necessary to use only those starting in the fall term of 19h9, in order to compare on a similar basis those who graduated with those who withdrew. Also some of the necessary data on students starting in the particular term who had not yet graduated was not available. To study this aspect of ac— celeration properly — and it did show a significantly greater num— ber of accelerates than non-accelerates graduating - the original sanple could best be chosen from one homogenous group starting at one time and tracing them all to graduation or withdrawal. While it is felt that the present results were not badly handicapped by the sanple used, for the reasons given in Chapter VI, a repetition of this experiment, in view of its significant relationship at the five percent level, might serve to verify it. The sample of aCCelerates who accelerated all the courses they could was used in testing several hypotheses of this study. It might be well in making the division of accelerates on this basis to further separate the sample on the basis of those who could ac- 491 _ celerate several and did so. When testing whether accelerates evidenced an egressive personality in this study, the division was arbitrarily made at two or more courses. It did not change the results in numbers of activities participated in. There is no total assurance that thos: who accelerate four or five Basic Col- lege courses, all that they could accelerate, would not exhibit some of the traits tested ior and not found for the whole group of those accelerating all the courses possible. It was not feasible to do this ior the present sample because the number resulting was too small to have much meaning. Che phase of the personality factor of aggressiveness was evaluated by checking participation in activities in college. This is an indirect measure of this trait, aid cannot be said to give a very complete evaluation of personali.y. To check the full re- lationsnip of personality to acceleration, it might be well to interview the group suggested above, those accelerating all the Basic College courses when this is most of the total Tasic College courses taken. These students are really taking full advantake of the acceleration proc as at Michigan State College. A comparison by pers nality of tnese accelerates to those who have the same opportunity to accelerate but pass up this opportunity some of the time and to those who pass up the opportunity all 01 the time might prove of interest. it wnuld be necessary to useeasanple taken from students taking Basic College courses over a considerable period of -192l time to find sufficient numbers, if the present study is a good indication. It could not be done well with the present group. Finally, since the Basic College accelerating procedure at Michigan State College has undergone considerable change since the students who are included in this study took these courses, a new evaluation of the current practice is already in order. It is hoped that the present study will provide some ideas from which such a study could be more profitably made. -1193- 1. 3. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Allison, Jame M. and Benjamin Bloom, "The Operation and Evaluation of a College Placement Test Program," The Journal of General Education. b (April, 1950), p. 231. Auble, Donavon, Extended Tables for the MannJWhitney Statistic. Bloomington: The Institute of Education Research, School of Education, Indiana University. 1 (fi2, 1953). Bloom, Benjamin and Jane Allison, "Developing a College Placement Test Program," The Journal of General Education. 3 (April, l9b9), p. 213. Bloom, Benjamin and F. C. Ward, "The Chicago Bachelor of Arts Degree After Ten Years," Journal of Higher Education. 22 (#9, December, 1952): pp- 1159—1167. Board of Examiners, Michigan State College, Comprehensive Examinations in a Program of General Education. East Lansing: The Michigan State College Press, l9h9. Dole, Arthur, "Evidence of the Effectiveness of a Program of Giving College Credits by Examination," Educational and Psychological Measurement. 11 (1951), pp. 387-96. Dole, Arthur and Ruth Churchill, "Credit Where Credit is Due," Journal of Higher Education. 21 (1950), pp. 299-308, 336. Eckelberry, R. H., "Acceleration in College," Journal of Higher Education. 1h (April, l9h3), p. 76. Garrett, Alfred B., "Giving College Credit in Chemistry by Examination," Ohio Schools. 2h (19h6), pp. 358-67. Haak, Leo, "Acceleration by Examination," College and University. 29 (October, 1953), pp. 39—52. Hall, J. Oliver, A Study of Acceleration Methods in Basic Collegg Social Science. Unpublished Ed. D. Thesis: Michigan State College, 1951, 223 pp. Keyes, Noll, The Underage Student in High School and College. Berkeley, Cal.: University of California Press. 1938, p. 13h. Laws, Leonard, A Comparative Study of Basic College Grades and Effort-Interest—Attitude Ratings for Low Ability Students. ed Ed. D. Thesis, Michigan State College, 1953. -19h- Unpublish- 1h. Lowall, A. Lawrence, At War with Academic Traditions in America. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 193h, P. 2h5. 15. McConnell, T. R., "Some Unsolved Problems of Secondary Education," The North Central Association Quarterly. 27 (January, 1953), pp. 258-66. l6. Pressey, Sidney L., Educational Acceleration: Appraisal and Basic Problems. Columbus: The Bureau of Educational Research, Ohio State University, l9h9, lh8 pp. 17. Pressey, S. L. and Marie Flasher, "An Analysis of the Effects of College Acceleration," Educatigpal Administration and Supervision. 30. (l9hb). pp- 351—61. 16. Studies in Articulation of High School and College with S ecial Reference to the Superior Student. ed. by Edward S. Jones. 15 vols. Buffalo: University of Buffalo, l93h-l936. l9. Turney, Austin H. and Floyd B. Lee, "An Experiment in Exempting Qualified Freshmen from Beginning College Courses," Educational Administration and Supervision. 21 (1935): Pp. 33b- . 20. Tuttle, G. P., "Proficiency Examinations at the University of Illinois," Bulletin of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars. 11 (October, 1935), pp. 55L58. 21. Tyler, Ralph W., "Placement Tests as a Means of Determining Advanced Standing at the University of Chicago," Journal of American Assoc- iation of Collegiate Registrars. 20 (July, 19h5), p. 522. 22. Van Der Jagt, Ervin R., ”A Study of the Performance of Basic Biological Science in Advanded Biology Courses," Science Education. 3h (March, 1950), pp. 85-93. 23. Van Der Jagt, Ervin R. and George W. Angell, "Should Accelerated Students be Penalized by Admission Requirements?," School and Society. 71, (April, 1950), pp. 199-200. -195- APPENDIX A -196- 1. DEPARTMENTAL REQUIREMENTS FOR PERMISSION TO ACCELERATE BASIC COLLEGE COURSES BY TAKING THE COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION BEFORE COMPLETING TBREE TERMS 0} COURSE ATTENDANCE Written and Spoken English, WSE 111, 112, 113 First Term 1. 2. Second An A grade at midterm of WSE 111. Recommendation of the instructor. A derived score of 8, 9, or 10 on the Diagnostic Test of English Usage, given to entering freshmen. A derived score of 8, 9, or 10 on the Cooperative Reading Test given to entering freshmen. A derived score of 8, 9, or 10 on the Linguistic portion of the American Council on Education Psychological Examination given to entering freshmen. If the student was over 25, was a veteran, or had had contributing experience, he may have had a derived score below 8 (i.e. 7) on the above three tests. Term 1. 2. An A in the first term and a B at midterm in the second term or a B in the first term and an A at midterm in the second term. Recommendation of the instructor. Scores as high as 7 on the three tests described under First Term acceleration. If the student was over 25, everything except the grade requirements and instructor's recommendation was usually waived, provided the student's background was good. -197.- 2. Biolog‘ cal Science, B.S. 121, 122, 123 First Term 1. An A or B grade at the time of petitioning. 2. High school biology or the equivalent. 3. Recommendation of the instructor. b. Permission of the head of the Department. Second Term 1. A "B" average up to the time of decision on the petition. This could have consisted of an A in 121 and a C in 122 to time of petitioning, a B in 121 and a B in 122, or a C in 121 and an A in 122. 2. High school biology or the equivalent. 3. Recommendation of the instructor. h. Permission of the head of the Department. 3. Physical Science, P.S. 131, 132, 133 1. B to the time of petitioning in the first term, 131. 2. Recommendation of the instructor. 3. Permission of the Head of Department. This was somewhat automatic, dependence being placed on the instructor's appraisal. 1. B or better in 131. 2. B in 132 to the time of petitioning. 3. Recommendation of the instructor. h. Permission of the Head of Department. -198- b. fiEEngam% &S.Hd,flm,ufi exit m 1. An A grade at midterm. 2. An all-college grade point average of 2.5. 3. Recommendation of the instructor. h. Permission of the department head. 1. A or B in the first term, 1141. 2. B or better at midterm of lh2. 3. An all-college grade point average of 2.5. h. Recommendation of the instructor. 5. Permission of the department head. 5. Effective Living, E.L. 151, 152, 153 First Term 1. An A grade at the time special permission requests were received. 2. Permission of the department head. Second Term 1. An A or B in the second term, 152, at the time special permission requests are received. 2. An A or B grade for the first term, 151. 3. Permission of the department head. These criteria were adopted in 1951. Thus a portion of the present sample would have taken their comprehensive examination in Effective Living under these rules. Previous to this, according to Leo A. Haak, head of the department, such things as age, length of time in service, record of acceleration in other Basic College -l99- courses, transfer from another school, change in major at Michigan State College, orientation test scores, grade on course pretests, marital status, size of family if married, grade point average, year in college, draft status, educational plans, and related courses had all been considered in granting permission.1 Since Haak feels that the 1951 requisites are an improvement and have tended to limit rather than encourage desire to attempt accelera- tion, and because they are in line with requirements of other Basic College courses, they have been accepted as the lower limit for selection of the sample of non-accelerates in this department. These requirements will tend to improve the quality of students included in the non-accelerate sample, and since previous work in— dicates strongly that accelerates are the better students, any possible error will be in the direction of making the groups appear more nearly equal. 6. History 2; Civilization, H.C. 161, 162, 163 1. An A at the time of petitioning. 2. Recommendation of the instructor. 3. Permission of a committee within the Department. 1 Haak, Leo A. "Acceleration by Examination", College and Unin ersity. 29, (Oct.,l953) p. h7., quoting from "Policies and Procedures for Term End Examinations and Term Grades in the Basic College, 1951". ~200- Second Term 1. An A in the first term, 161, and a B at the time of petitioning in the second term, 162, or a B in 161 and an A at the time of petitioning in 162. 2. Recommendation of the instructor. 3. Permission of the committee. 7. Literature and Fine Arts First Term 1. An A at the time of decision, the seventh or eighth week of the term. 2. Recommendation of the instructor. 3. Permission of the department. Second Term 1. A "B" average in 171 and in 172 to the time of deciding. This might have consisted of an A in 171 and a C in 172 to decision time, a C in 171 and an A in 172 to decision time or B in 171 and B in 172. 2. Recommendation of the instructor. 3. Permission of the department. ~201- APPENDIX B -202- COURSES IN THE UPPER SCHOOLS AT MICHIGAN STATE COLLEGE DIRECTLY RELATED TO EACH BASIC COLLEGE COURSE The following are the upper-school courses which are directly re- lated to each Basic College course. These are used in Chapter V to study performance of two-term accelerates and non-accelerates in these related courses. 1. written and Spoken English English 200,1 213a, 21ha, 228a, 3014 Speech 128, 203, 206, 207, 260 Journalism 302, 309, 312a, 318, 380 2. Biological Science Botany 201 or 202 Zoology 207, 210, 302, 311, 313 Physiology 22h Entomology 201 Bacteriology 202 3. Physical Science Chemistry 100, 101 Geology 206, 208 Physics 158, 271 1 These course numbers are from the 19h9-51 Michigan State College catalog. They do not necessarily correspond to present course numbers. -203- D. Social Sciencel Economics 209a, 210a, 211 Political Science 251a,2 260, 305a, 351, 355, 365a, hl6d 5. Effective Living3 Psychology 201 Sociology 201, 202, 203 6. History'gf Civilization History 1505 222a, b, c; 302 a, b, c; 306a; 312a, b, c; 31ha, b, o; 1:11; 1412a, b, c Political Science 251a, 260, 305a, 365a, h16d Art 266a, 302b Sociology 201, 202, 203 The reader is referred to the Michigan State College catalog, 19h9-51.for the descriptions of the courses given above. 1 It will be noted that courses in Sociology and Psychology are absent from the list. While these courses are well coordinated with Social Science, they cover material given in the first term of Social Science and so are eliminated under condition two. 2 When taken after Social Science and History of Civilization. 3 Courses in Philosophy are not included because this is the phase of the Effective Living course which was stressed in the first term of that Basic College course. -2014- APPENDIX C -205- May 12, 1953 SURVEY ON ACCELERATION BY EXAMINATION IN BASIC COLLEGE COURSES The Basic College at Michigan State College would like to find out why MSG students accelerate in its courses by examination. It is proposed to study the seniors graduating this June. Most of you who are seniors would thus have been taking Basic College courses when it was necessary to pass the Comprehensive Examination to receive credit for the three terms of the course. To accelerate you would have had to receive permission of the particular department by meeting certain scholastic requirements, usually an A at midterm of the first term or a B in the first term and a B at.midterm of the second term. These might have been an A in Social Science lhl er a B in Social Science 1h1 and a B in Social Science 1&2 at midterm. Then with the recommendation of your instructor you would have been allowed to try the complete Comprehensive Examination without taking the second or third term, as the case may be. Information is needed about the reasons why you did accelerate by passing the examination before completing three terms in the course. Also, if you met the requirements and did not attempt to pass the comprehensive examination, this information is also wanted. ‘Would you please note these reasons in the space provided below. Your cooperation is very much appreciated. ~206- II. ‘What are the reasons for your passing off one or more terms in any of the seven Basic College courses by taking the Comprehensive Examination before completing the three terms? If you can, please associate the individual reasons with the appropriate courses. If you cannot remember for each Basic College course, please generalize on your reasons 0 If you met the requirements for accelerating one or more terms in at least one Basic College course why did you not choose to take advantage of the opportunity to accelerate? -207- h06 Olds Hall Michigan State College May 28 .9 1953 Mr. John Doe 218 Detroit Street East Lansing, Michigan Dear Mr. Doe: The Basic College and others at Michigan State College are much interested in examining how the system of acceleration by examination through the Com- prehensive Examination has been used by students in its courses. The present Senior class, graduating this June, has been chosen for investigation. In this study two groups of the Seniors Will be polled, 1.) Those who have accelerated by examination at least one term in one Basic College course, 2.) A control group of those who have not accelerated by examination. The information needed can be grouped thus: 1. Reasons for accelerating by examination or reasons for not accelerating although scholastically eligible. 2. Certain background information concerning the acceleration. 3. Extracurricula activities during college. To assist the memory of those who did not accelerate but may have been eligible, the general requirements in most departments at the time you took the Basic College courses required that the student have an A at midterm to take the Comprehensive Examination in a course the first term. During the second term of a course, a student should have had either an A in the first term and a B or better at midterm of the second term, or a B in the first term and an.A at midterm of the second term of the course. Then, with permission of his instructor, he could apply to write the Comprehensive Examination at the end of the first or second term. You have been selected to participate in this study on the basis of your college scholastic record. The check-lists and completion answers are designed to take as little of your time as possible in order to Obtain the needed.inform~ ation. Y0u will also find attached a printed card on which are listed spaces to check your college extracurricular activities. This car will not be used as part of your college records and is so stamped. In checking this card, it would be very helpful if you would indicate beside checked activities, any offices held and number of years of participation. -208_ W3 M7. :‘_ -, .. ‘ "J‘ 1 II! I I III‘ ‘ . .- ' I, .. 1,. . .- ‘ Q‘i'V- I ‘ _ .. , , ,v ‘.. . c . - I ’ I . ~ .. .. .I " III II I I II . . . I r: . I _ . .- L I ~‘ I I ‘ ‘ . v ‘ . .h I I .. ..‘.w ' ‘ I III I . ‘x- ‘ ' I I . . -. . ‘ ' I . . ' _ ~ '. I I ,. . , .,' 1 ‘ I .V . ' . I . II I I I. u . I I I .- .1- '. I III I c ' I ‘ II .. .- . .' '. ‘ II I II . I' I II I I I w ' II ‘ I — I I I Page 2 May 28 , 1953 ‘Whether you accelerated by examination or did not choose to accelerate but could have, please answer part II. Information on why you accelerated in one course but not in another is important to the results. Your courtesy in filling out the questionnaire is sincerely appreciated. For your convenience an addressed stamped envelope is enclosed. In the final report, no individual will be identified, and these answers will be kept in strict confidence. It can in no way affect your college status since your final college grades will be in before this is evaluated. Time to get these responses back is short, so promptness will be much appreciated. Again thanks for your cooperation. Sincerely, . // 1L3 ‘ +D(/ .ILKCLJ Rdbert L. Sweet Professor of Metallurgical Engineering RLS:me Enclosure -209- I. Reasons for Accelerating by Examination accelerate. check in the last column marked general. ing are the courses which the records show that you accelerated. Reasons for Acceleration SURVEY ON ACCELERATION BY'EXAMINATION If you accelerated by examination, please check in the space provided your reason or reasons for accelerating in each course in which you did 1. 3. 2. h. S. 6. If you cannot recall reasons in specific courses, please For your convenience the follow- Courses.Aecelera: pea WSE BS PS 58 EL HG LEA" GENERAL . 1. To graduate sooner 2. To avoid duplication of courses already well covered in high school. 3. To avoid duplication of other Basic College courses. To avoid duplication due to experiences gained other than in high school or other basics. 5. Not interested in course content. 6. I disliked the organization and presentation of the course. 7. To be able to take more elective courses. 8. To be able to take major interest courses sooner. 9. To ease the course load in the Junior and Senior years. 10. Instructor advised it. 11. I didn't like instructors. 12. It gave me a feeling of * .dh ‘— importance. 13. Others ~210- II. Reasons for Not Acceleratingby Examinatiofl Although Scholastically Eligible If you think you were eligible in any Basic course to take the Comprehensive Examination but chose not to do so, please check the appropriate reason or reasons in the columns for the course or courses so affected.» Since midterm grades are not part of the official records, you will have to rely on your memory for the courses which apply. The general conditions which apply to permission to accelerate are given in the instructions. Should you not remember details for specific courses put a check in the general column: Reasons for Not Accelerating v 0011:1332; Although Permissible WSE BS PS SS EL HC LFA GENERAL 1. To assure a higher grade.- 2. I did not feel competent to pass Comprehensive Examination with- out taking course material. 3. I was interested enough in course to want to complete it. 11.. Credit would not be accepted in transferring to other institu- tions or in graduate schools. 5. Not enough time to study for the examination... 6. I did not realize it was possible to accelerate by comprehensive examination. 7. I desired to attend a particular teacher's class in following ‘ terms. 8'. Others -211- a.-. - -... ‘ . - -‘ . . _. : ' . 'A - . .- . , . ' _ V. . .. .- . . _ .: 1' ' ‘ | . yo' I’ ' " . . , l . . .-_- . .. I x' : “I. J ., J. . . - ._ - ~... . l - ' ' n . n' I ' u l . . r. .' .. - ' ,i.'.. . . ‘ ' -_ i ...“"_ '1': ., l-‘-. -',.. . :.- ' ' ‘ : . ' s .- - . . . - Z -' . - .a ‘ I_ .-' .- ‘ ... ..... ' .,_ ' . I. . . ... . . - - - , .‘ ., . _ e. . -.. .- ._ . :. - - 'r. .. -. .- _._. » -' 91“ ‘l ..‘.'-" ' .- “ ' 5 . . ._ ,. -' ..--:s -. .-. '- l l _ 4 f . - .f. .- -A 1'..- : . _..I I l ._ ._ -. i_" ".3 , ' - . '-. .‘-'§I ‘. ' . :.' t ' . ‘ a :' | n . - : ' ' I ' - .' '- ' . ... . . . .-. . .. .. ... ... .,_ . " ' I l.- --. ...- - . u , ~- '-' .In-..- III. Additional Information Concerning Acceleration If you did accelerate by examination in Basic College, please fill in these blanks. 1. Did you accelerate in any way in your high school or elementary school program? 2. If so, explain how this was accomplished. 3. How did you prepare to take the Comprehensive Examinations when you accelerated? Please check one or more reasons which apply. 1. Self-study by a planned program. 2. Random self-study. 3. Group study. h. Some faculty aid. 5. Use of previously published examinations. 6. Use of syllabus of course. a; No preparation. 8. Other (please list) IV.. Extracurricular Activities 0n the attached card, previously mentioned, would you please note the activities in which you participated while at MaSoCo Also please note any offices held in the organizations, letters earned in athletics, or other information pertinent to the organization, The number of years of particip-' ation is also desired and this number could.be written in the blank in place of a check mark. ~212- ». - -- --'r;* --.‘-. r.. . -. ' - L. \- . . --!'I ‘ . & .‘.- . m- nunr :-- .- .v- --..- -.x--.~...' hm“ . . Hub-m.- .- 5 l . l . . . . . ‘ . .i _ - t , M , n} " .. n ‘. p. ”.2 _. "w * . .. ' u.........‘..-...' .w-.~. : x .. .. ‘- J g . . . . , . : ._ 1‘. . ‘ '- ‘ -. -. ~ . .... I ..- a. - . ...... «r- .‘..'. "...... .'..'. .‘w Um. . .~ .- . . :. ,. .. ~ ... .. x. '. «...-me... .. {-:i :— v -' ... :... .. .. .. .In. . - . .- . .."... . n . ‘ . - . l. -. ,,' _ _.. , .... , .. . . ‘v , ‘- "I 1 . A ('~ .‘ .4 , r- ‘ u” ‘ Iv .' ‘ .“ .. . .n'. . I; .. . ' , . . . .’ . .‘ ~ _ J. “_.._._.| ' - , , --z . u A . ' I ’ 3. .. ~ _ , - . ?.: -. - , -- a - ... a . ' .3 r . . . ' .. .. ' ' " " ‘. u. 41. l-l u ' . .‘ .. . . ~ u . . . l - ‘ . . .1 n- 3 . ' I . - ~ » l ._ , - - . . w mm USE am: 4 i WSO’ ' ‘\_ '1 dig: 5') rite: 3w. . ' -'.-", “5/” ix? amt: ' M v .l"'\- IIIIIIIIIII Mill/WINNIW/l 3 129 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII