Date of Award
Spring 1978
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Education
First Advisor
Tagatz, Glenn E.
Second Advisor
A'Hearn, Richard
Third Advisor
Leslie, Lauren
Abstract
After reviewing the literature on factors leading to academic achievement within a vocational-technical setting, particularly those investigations which sought to isolate variables useful in predicting grade point average (GPA), the present study was designed to examine the effects of both intellectual and non-intellectual variables on GPA, and to compare such factors as related to one- and two-year programs at a vocational-technical academic setting. It was hypothesized that variables such as quantitative and language measures of intelligence, attitude, sex, age, time of day of course, type of room in which course was held, length of class session, and enrollment in either one- or two-year proposal would servee as useful indices of student achievement (GPA). It was further postulated that there would be discernible variation between the function of these variables relative to achievement in skill courses as opposed to general-education courses. Additionally, homogeneity and heterogeneity of sex and program mix were speculated to be related to GPA in general-education courses. The Ss in this investigation were 120 daytime students enrolled in either a one- or two-year program at Waukesha County Technical Institute during the spring semester of 1977. Selection of Ss was randomly made from a pool of Ss who bad already completed the Thurstone Test of Mental Alertness, Form A (Thurstone), two Osgood Semantic Differentials (Osgood) constructed to measure attitude toward both skill and general-education courses, and a biographical information questionnaire. At the completion of the semester, course grades and course information regarding time of day of course, hours per class session, type of room in which course was held, and sex and program mix within specific classes were recorded for all Ss...