An investigation into the validity of predictions for high school success in Jamaica

Abstract

This study investigated the validity of predictions for high school success in Jamaica with 1960 as base year. The main predictor of high school success considered was the Common Entrance (CE) examination, consisting of a battery of tests in Intelligence, English, and Arithmetic, but other factors were considered, such as the socio-economic status of parents, teacher turnover, teacher quality, age, and sex differences in the schools of the sample. English was found to be the best all-round predictor of the three tests, although Intelligence was, in a few cases, slightly superior or equal to English. Analysis of socio-economic status revealed that there were significant differences between the performance of students from different occupational groups, and that students from the lower end of the socio-economic scale formed a depression area in the individual schools as far as performance was concerned. Analysis of sex differences in performance revealed no significance, but it was observed that the cut-off points for both sexes used in the 1959 CE examination needed to be raised