Prior studies show low and variable correlations between mental tests and college grades, averaging from .09 to .44¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 1919 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Wissler's tests averaged only .09 with college grades, which the author calls negligible, while later studies (Waugh .41, Kitson .44) reported higher coefficients, with variation across tests and methods. → Caldwell 1919

Evidence¶

Caldwell 1919¶

Caldwell, Helen Hubbert. (1919). Adult Tests of the Stanford Revision Applied to College Students. The Journal of Educational Psychology, X(10). https://doi.org/10.1037/h0074484

q2 · i? · associational · r1

Literature review section summarizing seven prior studies (Wissler through King and M'Crory, tabulated in Table Ia): Wissler's average was .09, Calfee's approximately .23, Rowland and Lowden's best .37, Waugh's .41, Bell's highest .31, Kitson's .44 (falling to .20 with Freshmen a year later).

"It will be seen that the average correlation of the tests used with college grades was .09, which is so low as to be negligible and ap- parently justifies the conclusion that, "while the marks of students" (in different subjects) "correlate with each other to a considerable degree, they show little tendency to do so with the mental tests of the psychologist.""

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Stanford Adult test results correlate .44 with college grades when Juniors and Sophomores are re-ranked as one group — related
• Group intelligence scores correlated only modestly with school marks (freshmen: 0.41 Thurstone, 0.56 Brown; junior high: 0.25 Illinois, 0.32 Otis), which the author attributes to marks depending on many non-intelligence factors — related
• Correlation magnitude rises with the standard deviation of mental age of the group, so cross-group comparisons of the two traits are spurious — related
• IQ-grade correlation differs sharply by class standing: .69 for Juniors versus .17 for Sophomores, rising to .48 when three discrepant records are omitted — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• An information test correlates only weakly with college class grades, with r = .13 for freshmen and r = 0 for seniors — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Intelligence test correlations with college performance are reportedly too low for administrative classification use — a narrower finding that bears on this claim