New York College Learning Skills Association

RTDE Issue Contents

Research and Teaching
in Developmental Education

Volume 21, Issue 2, Spring 2005

What Factors Predict the Success of Developmental Education Students in an Introductory Biology Course?
By Randy Moore

Abstract

Academic success correlates strongly with high rates of class attendance in an introductory biology course for first-year developmental education students. To better understand this correlation, the author studied how students’ grades in the course are predicted by students’ ethnicity, gender, grade-point average, ACT Aptitude Rating, and class attendance. Students’ grade-point averages and class attendance were the strongest predictors of students’ academic success, followed by their ACT Aptitude Rating. Attendance was strongly associated with students’ grade-point-averages, and only weakly with their ACT Aptitude Rating. Ethnicity had no predictive value for academic success.