A study of factors affecting the academic success of a selected group of freshman women

101 Pages·04.755 MB·English

by  Schmadel, Elnora

A STUDY OF FACTORS AFFECTING- THE ACADEMIC SUCCESS OF
A SELECTED GROUP OF FRESHMAN WOMEN
A P roject
Presented to
The Faculty of the School of Education
The U niversity of Southern C alifornia
In P a rtia l Fulfillm ent
of the Requirements fo r the Degree
M aster of Science in Education
by
Elnora Schmadel
May 1950
UMI Number: EP46050
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UMI EP46050
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This project report, written under the direction
of the candidate’s adviser and approved by him,
has been presented to and accepted by the Faculty
of the School of Education in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of Master of
Science in Education.
Date........................................................................
Adviser
Dean
TABLE OP CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I . INTRODUCTION . . . . * ................................................ 1
Statem ent of the p ro b le m . 2
Sources of data and methods of
co llectio n .............................................. 3
Value of the study • . . ................................• • 3
Methods of in te rp re ta tio n • • • • • • . . 4
Methods of procedure . • .................... . • • 5
L im itations of th is study .................... 6
O rganization of the rem aining
chapters ..........................................................................7
I I . SURVEY OF RELATED LITERATURE ................................... 8
I I I . METHODS AND PROCEDURES................................................. 18
S election of subjects . . . . . . . . . . 18
S cholastic A ptitude Tests . . • • • • . . 18
English C lassificatio n Test • • • • • • • • 20
Counseling procedure ..................................... 21
Personal data form ............................................... 21
C alifornia Short-Form Test of Mental
M aturity - Advanced S-Form . . . . . . . 22
Occupational In te re st Inventory -
Advanced S eries . . 23
C alifornia Test of P ersonality . . . . . . 24
iv
CHAPTER PAGE
Tyler-Kimber Study S k ills Test . . . . . . 25
IV. ANALYSIS OP GROUP DATA ................................... 26
Academic achievement 26
Personal h isto ry . 30
V ocational choices 34
A nalysis of te s t scores 35
V. COMPARISON OF SUCCESSFUL AND NON­
SUCCESSFUL GROUPS......................................................... 46
VI. CASE STUDIES ............................................ 57
M arilyn . . . . . . ................................................ 57
S hirley 61
Joanne 64
Jane . . . . * . * . .................... . . . . . 69
Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
M arjorie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Summary • BO
V II. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS .................................... 84
BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................... 92
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE PAGE
I* Grades Obtained by Number of Hours
of Work , 28
I I , . S tudents’ Choices of Subjects Liked and
D isliked P rio r to C o lle g e .................................., 33
I I I , Grade Point Averages w ith Corresponding
Educational O bjectives • • • • • • • . • 36
IV, P ereen tile Rank of Subjects on the
O ccupational In te re st Inventory * • • • • 40
V, Comparison of Non-Language, Language and
T otal I,Q , Scores of Subjects on the
C alifornia Test of Mental M aturity with
T heir Q uantitative and L inguistic Scores
on the A, C, E........................................ 44
VI* Comparison by Groups of Grades Obtained in
Required Freshman Courses ............................ 47
V II, Comparison of Grade Point Averages with
Scores Made on the English C lassificatio n
Test . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
V III, Comparison by Groups of Range and Average
of Scores Made on the English C lassificatio n
T est ............................................................................. 50
v i
TABLE PAGE
IX* Comparison by Grade Point Averages of
Scores Made on the Reading Comprehension
T est, and the Q uantitative and L inguistic
T ests of the American Council on
Education . . . . . . . . . ....................... • • • 52
X. Comparison by Groups of Range and Average
of Scores Made on the Reading Comprehen­
sion T est, and the Q uantitative and L inguis­
tic Tests of the American Council on
Education ........................ . • 54
XI* Record of Case H istory Data on M arilyn . . . . 58
X II. Record of Case H istory Data on S hirley . . . . 62
X III. Record of Case H istory Data on Joanne . . . . 65
XIV. Record of Case H istory Data on Jane . . . . . 70
m
XV# Record of Case H istory Data on Grace . . . . . 74
XVI. Record of Case H istory Data on M arjorie . . . 76
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The problem of success and fa ilu re among college
students has been the b asis fo r much research over a period
of many y ears, but the high m ortality rate of freshmen has
always been of special concern* The study which is pre­
sented here is an attem pt to analyse the sp ecific reasons
fo r the academic success or fa ilu re of a group of freshman
women a t the U niversity of Southern C alifornia, who were
selected to p artic ip ate in the study because of th e ir low
ranging on the English C lassificatio n Test*?- Students rank­
ing in the low est q u artile of th is te s t, which is required
of a ll en terin g freshmen, are assigned to * sp ecialw English
classes which meet fiv e tim es a week rath er than the three
tim es th a t is customary fo r regular three u n it courses*
These assignm ents are made to give the students an oppor­
tu n ity to increase th e ir understanding of the basic funda­
m entals of English grammar*
The women in th is study were selected because i t was
recognized th a t th is E nglish d isa b ility might be a severe
handicap in achieving academic success in college* The
o ffice of the Counselor of Women f e lt th a t these women might
1 r* R* G. Watt, and the U niversity of Southern Call
fo ra ia T esting Bureau, English C lassificatio n T est. 1949*
need special help in ad ju stin g to the college situ a tio n and
was concerned to discover what, if any, special problems
these women might encounter.
I t is d iffic u lt to appraise the success or failu re
of any student in the academic situ a tio n w ithout an under­
standing and knowledge of the a b ilitie s th at the person
brings w ith him, These facto rs are considered in the
evaluation of the In d iv id u al's achievement, and form a large
p a rt of the cum ulative data which is used to aid the person
in making a successful adjustm ent to college.
Statem ent of the problem. I t was the purpose of th is
study to In v estig ate the facto rs involved in the success or
fa ilu re of a selected group of freshman women a t the Univer­
s ity of Southern C alifornia during the P all of 1949, The
study proposed to consider the follow ing questionss
1, W ill these freshman women, handicapped by a
weakness in English fundam entals, be able to
succeed in th e ir f ir s t sem ester of college?
2, How, and to what extent is th is problem of
English deficiency rela ted to the other problems
th a t the g irls w ill encounter?
3, What special help can the o ffice of the Counselor
of Women give th a t w ill aid these students to
succeed in college?
3
Source s of data and methods of co llectio n * Data were
obtained ch iefly from two main sources, the f ile s of the
Counselor of Women a t the U niversity of Southern C alifornia,
and from the g irls them selves as they offered to p artic ip ate
in the ad d itio n al te stin g program th a t was offered* L ibrary
research consisted of the study of re la te d m aterials in the
fie ld s of education and psychology*
Value of the study* Much of the m aterial w ritten on
the subject of suecess or fa ilu re in college is somewhat
su p e rficial and of no immediate help in understanding why
a person does or does not succeed* Rather i t tends to
d ire c t the in te re s t of the In v estig ato r toward those problems
th a t are more easily subjected to s ta tis tic a l an aly sis, and
ru le of thumb in terp retatio n s* Xet i t is alm ost im possible
to underestim ate the importance of the problems th a t the
individual student faces*
For the person, him self, academic success or fa ilu re
w ill of n ecessity a ffe c t the course of h is ultim ate voca­
tio n a l choice, and quite as in ev itab ly th a t same suooess or
fa ilu re w ill condition h is social response to the world*
The U niversity its e lf is concerned to know and under­
stand the cause fo r the success or fa ilu re of the Individual
student as i t is thereby possible to elim inate the waste of
much tim e, money and energy th a t might be spent to b e tte r