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A comparison of academic performance of Nebraska public university graduates who have completed science or mathematics teacher certification with graduates who majored in mathematics or science
Abstract
The academic performance of students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of Nebraska-Kearney and the University of Nebraska-Omaha who had completed teacher certification in chemistry, biology or mathematics from Spring, 1985 through Spring, 1990 was compared with the academic performance of students who graduated with majors in chemistry, biology or mathematics. The comparison of academic performance was based on a technical grade point average and ACT test scores. Three factor ANOVAs were utilized to measure differences in technical grade point averages between certification and non-certification students. If significant differences did occur, a Mann-Whitney U-Test was completed to verify results. Independent variables for this study included content area, gender and year of graduation. A simple Pearson product-moment correlation was performed to measure the possible predictive ability of ACT scores on academic performance. The results indicate there are no statistically significant differences between the academic performance of chemistry and biology certification students and non-certification students. Certification students in mathematics maintained significantly lower technical grade point averages than the non-certification mathematics students. Analysis of the effect of gender and graduation year on technical grade point average or ACT score showed no pattern of differences between the chemistry, biology or mathematics groups. Correlation results between ACT score and technical grade point average were not significant. This indicates a low level of predictability between pre-collegiate tests and academic performance in college.
Subject Area
Teacher education
Recommended Citation
Anderson-Imel, Geri Julane, "A comparison of academic performance of Nebraska public university graduates who have completed science or mathematics teacher certification with graduates who majored in mathematics or science" (1991). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9208099.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9208099