This research was undertaken to identify variables that accounted for major changes in academic performance between high school and college. Differences between predicted and actual college GPA were used to classify students as gainers or decliners among a group of sophomores and a group of seniors at a medium-sized research university. A model composed of nine variables was developed to explain the change in performance. Each variable was classified as an Environmental Triggering Mechanism (environmental stimulus), an Internal Psychological state (a cognitive response to the stimulus), or an Academic Behavior. Seven of the variables were derived from the literature of academic achievement in college. Two of the variables were identified in the course of exploratory interviews with senior performance changers. Two-way discriminant function analysis was performed to determine which of the variables contributed most to classifying students as gainers or decliners. Correlation analysis was performed to examine the relationships between variables. Academic expectancies, the number of terms required to adjust to college academically, and the students' approach to study (consistency and priority of study) emerged as making the strongest contribution to the discriminant function for both sophomores and seniors. Significant correlations were found between some, but not all, of the variables in each category, supporting the basic structure of the model. Variables categorized as Environmental Triggering Mechanisms played a secondary role with respect to those Internal Psychological States and Academic Behaviors that contributed most to academic performance change. / Graduation date: 1991

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 1998. / Description based on microform version. Includes bibliographical references (p. 28-29).

Thesis--Brigham Young University. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 170-179).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Indiana University of Pennsylvania. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-87). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-125). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

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The purpose of this study was to evaluate effects of a transition room between kindergarten and first grade upon later academic achievement. An examination of the peer relationship between transition room students and their classmates constituted an auxiliary purpose. The longitudinal portion of the study investigated achievement test scores of transition room students and their classmates over a six year period. Peer relationships between transition room students and their classmates in grades one through six were studied in autumn, 1973.There were two basic hypotheses: (a) there would be no significant differences in academic achievement between transition room students and their classmates in grades one through six; (b) there would be no significant differences in social standing between transition room students and their classmates in grades one through six.Students had been assigned to the transition room on the bases of Metropolitan Readiness Tests scores and kindergarten teachers' evaluations. The purpose of the transition room was to give children who were predicted to have little chance for success in the first grade an opportunity to develop in an enriched environment for another year prior to advancement. It was postulated that the extra year would enable transition room students to achieve more successfully when compared with their classmates who would be a year younger.The total population of the longitudinal study consisted of 287 pupils in the Ossian school. Sixty-six pupils constituted the composite transition group over the years studied, while the remaining 211 were their non-transition room classmates. One transition room student and twenty-seven of the non-transition room group were retained subsequent to entry into the first grade. This left sixty-five in the transition group and 184 in the group of classmates for comparison of achievement test scores. The total transition room group was two months younger, averaged ten points lower in intelligence quotients and twenty-one points lower on the Metropolitan Readiness Test than did their classmates at the end of kindergarten.For purposes of sociometric rating, a total of 350 students were surveyed--eighty-three in the transition group and 267 classmates.Three instruments were used to collect data pertinent to the hypotheses. The Stanford Achievement Test and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills were used to measure academic achievement. An informal instrument administered by the classroom teacher was used to measure social rating.Statistical procedures employed were an analysis of variance to test significance of differences between mean grade equivalents on achievement tests and a chi-square analysis to assess peer group rating. Results showed a significant difference in achievement in favor of the non-transition room classmates; no significant difference in peer rating in grades one, two, four, five and six, and a significant difference in peer rating in favor of the non-transition room classmates in grade three.It was concluded that the transition room did not enable students to achieve as a group on the same academic level with their younger classmates. However, the transition room reduced the actual number of retentions at subsequent grade levels and enabled students to achieve continuous academic progress as a group at or above grade norms suggested in standardized test manuals without negative effects upon peer group acceptance.