Trends in the Academic Abilities, Background Characteristics, and Educational and Vocational Plans of College-Bound Students: 1970-71 to 1974-75

ACT RESEARCH REPORTIJTRENDS IN THE ACADEMIC ABILITIES, BACKGROUND CHARACTERISTICS, AND EDUCATIONAL AND VOCATIONAL PLANS OF COLLEGE-BOUND STUDENTS: 1970-71 TO 1974-750. BOX 168, IOWA CITY, IOWA 52240 TRENDS IN THE ACADEMIC ABILITIES, BACKGROUND CHARACTERISTICS, AND EDUCATIONAL AND VOCATIONAL PLANS OF COLLEGE-BOUND STUDENTS:1970-71 TO 1974-75ABSTRACTThe past 5 years have been a time of dramatic political, social, and educational change. For this reason, it is important to document trends and changes that have occurred with respect to students who have taken the ACT Assessment. This research report describes changes that occurred during the 5-year period, 1970-71 to 1974-75, in three areas: academic abilities, back­ground characteristics, and educational plans and goals. Implications of these changes are also discussed. Prepared by the Research and Development Division The American College Testing ProgramACT, a nonprofit organization, is an Equal Opportunity Employer.© 1976 by The American College Testing ProgramAll rights reserved. Printed in the United States of AmericaFor additional copies write:ACT PublicationsThe American College Testing Program P.O. Box 168, Iowa City, Iowa 52240{Check or money order must accompany request.) Price: $1.00Order No. 4-7-74 TRENDS IN THE ACADEMIC ABILITIES, BACKGROUND CHARACTERISTICS, AND EDUCATIONAL AND VOCATIONAL PLANS OF COLLEGE-BOUND STUDENTS:1970-71 TO 1974-75E. James Maxey,Lee M. Wimpey,Richard L. Ferguson,Gary R. HansonThe 5-year period from 1970-71 to 1974-75 has been a tim e of unprecedented political, social, and econom ic change. Watergate, the Vietnam war, the energy crisis, inflation, high unem ploym ent rate, changing attitudes about drugs, and increased educational and econom ic opportunities fo r women and m in o rity groups have all contributed to that change. All segments of society have been affected by these events. This paper focuses on changes in the attributes of ACT-tested college- bound students w hich may be related to those events.A lthough the extent and nature o f the im pact of these influences on students are not fu lly known, data which provide inform ation about changes in students’ abilities, backgrounds, and educational plans over the same 5-year period are available. Causal relationships between social change and changes in these student-related variables cannot be inferred from these data. On the basis o f these data, however, some “ a rm ch a ir” speculations on the nature o f the relationship can be made.The data reported in subsequent sections o f this paper are drawn from The Am erican College Test­ing Program (ACT) files o f student records collected over the past 5 years through adm inistra­tion of the ACT Assessment Program. The data from 1970-71 and 1971-72 represent a 5% random sample and the data from 1972-73, 1973-74, and 1974-75, a 10% random sample of students tested on the firs t fo u r national test dates each year. In­cluded in the students’ records are their ACT test scores and self-reported high school grades, and their responses to the ACT S tudent P rofile Section (SPS), w hich contains some 200 items about voca­tional plans, out-of-class high school accom plish­ments, educational needs, extracurricular plans, and general biographical inform ation. A ll students who w rite the ACT Assessment com plete the SPS.Three m ajor categories o f trend data based on ACT test scores and on selected elements from the SPS are reported in subsequent sections of this paper. These are trends in students’1. academic abilities2. background characteristics (e.g., sex, race, and socioeconom ic status)3. educational plans and goalsThe paper summarizes findings and offers some interpretations o f th e ir im plications.1 Trends in Academic AbilitiesAmong the important indicators of change are trends in students’ academic performance and in the kinds of instructional experiences which they elect. In this section, these indicators are ex­amined using data on college-bound students who wrote the ACT Assessment. Academic perfor­mance is considered from the perspective both of high school grades and special instructional ex­periences and of performance on the ACT Assess­ment.Trends in High School AverageWhen students write the ACT Assessment, they report the last grade earned prior to the senior year in high school in four subjects: English, math­ematics, social studies, and natural sciences. The arithmetic average of these four grades, or High. School Average (HSA), is used