Predictors of Academic Success

The advent of the No Child Left Behind Act with its requirement that measures of student achievement meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) has promoted a search for the best educational programs, instructional techniques, evaluation tools, and methods for predicting academic success. Attention has focused on improving achievement in the classroom with the belief that academic strength in core subjects will better prepare students for state assessments and improve AYP. Successful academic transition of middle school students to high school is a specific area of interest. This book discusses the transition and explores the predictive relationship between achievement on middle school state assessments and freshman year grade point average. A process for analysis is described and applied to assessment data and grade point averages gathered from a study site in the state of Missouri. A positive and predictive relationship was found. Individual districts may benefit from applying a similar process to their own data to examine the value of adding state assessment scores to the student portfolio when preparing for successful academic transition into high school.