School average ACT scores predict college graduation for students with the same individual HSGPA and ACT score, reducing between-school variance by 42 percent, while school poverty is not significant once average ACT is included¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · associational r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2019 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? The odds of graduating college increase by 60 percent for every standard deviation increase in school average ACT scores, for students with the same HSGPA and ACT score. → Allensworth 2019 q2 i? School average ACT reduces high school variation in graduation rates by 42 percent (0.324 vs 0.622); school poverty is not significant in that model because it is highly correlated with school average ACT (r=0.70). → Allensworth 2019 (2)

Evidence¶

Allensworth 2019¶

Allensworth, Elaine M., & Clark, Kallie. (2019). Are GPAs an Inconsistent Measure of College Readiness across High Schools? Examining Assumptions about Grades versus Standardized Test Scores. University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/are-gpas-inconsistent-measure-achievement-across-high-schools-examining-assumptions

q2 · i? · associational · r3

Final hierarchical model adding school-level predictors (school average ACT, school poverty) to the combined student-level model (n=17,753). The article reports an unstandardized odds increase of 60 percent per standard deviation of school average ACT.

"The odds of graduating college increase by 60 percent for every standard deviation increase in school average ACT scores, for students with the same HSGPA and ACT score."

Allensworth 2019 (2)¶

Allensworth, Elaine M., & Clark, Kallie. (2019). Are GPAs an Inconsistent Measure of College Readiness across High Schools? Examining Assumptions about Grades versus Standardized Test Scores. University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/are-gpas-inconsistent-measure-achievement-across-high-schools-examining-assumptions

q2 · i? · associational · r3

School-level predictor models. The intercept variance falls from 0.622 to 0.324 when school average ACT is added; school poverty is not significant once average ACT is controlled, with a printed correlation of r=0.70 between the two.

"Average ACT scores in the school reduce the high school variation in college graduation rates by 42 percent (0.324 vs. 0.622). The school poverty level is not significant in this model, but that is because it is highly correlated with school average ACT scores (r=0.70)."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Adding ACT scores to models with HSGPA contributes little to the prediction of college graduation and does not reduce between-school variability — related
• ACT scores show significant subgroup misprediction by race, ethnicity, and gender that HSGPA models do not, and school-level variance is smaller among students with the same ACT score than the same HSGPA — related
• Both HSGPA and ACT strongly predict four-year college enrollment and enrollment in colleges with strong graduation rates — related
• Students with the same HSGPA or the same ACT score graduate from college at different rates depending on which high school they attended — related
• ACT scores weakly predict college graduation, and the school-level variance in the ACT slope (0.192) exceeds the average slope (0.129), so school effects introduce more noise than the ACT signal — related
• School-average ACT scores strongly predict individual college graduation, doubling the odds per standard deviation — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• ACT scores show a weak relationship with college graduation, with slope variation across high schools larger than the average signal — related
• College graduation rates vary significantly across high schools among students with the same HSGPA, and about one-fourth of that school-level variation is induced by comparing students with similar HSGPAs — a broader claim this one bears on
• For four-year (rather than six-year) graduation, ACT scores are slightly predictive but their coefficient is one-sixth the HSGPA coefficient — related
• Combining ACT scores with HSGPAs reduces high school variance in college graduation rates relative to HSGPA-only models — related
• Both HSGPA and ACT scores leave large high school effects on college graduation unexplained, which the study recommends measuring and publishing directly — related
• High school GPA predicts four-year college graduation more strongly than achievement test scores among Chicago graduates — related