Improving College Performance and Retention the Easy Way: Unpacking the ACT Exam

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bettinger, Eric P.; Evans, Brent J.; Pope, Devin G.
• 署名单位: Stanford University; University of Chicago
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.5.2.26
• 发表日期: 2013
• 页码: 26-52
• 关键词: Higher education; aid

摘要

Improving college performance and retention can be difficult. We propose a simple and low-cost change in the way colleges use the ACT exam in their admission decisions that can greatly increase their ability to identify students at a high risk of underperforming and dropping out. Specifically, we show that only two of the four subtests of the ACT, English and Mathematics, can effectively predict outcomes in college. This result is robust across various samples, specifications and outcome measures. We demonstrate that by eliminating the noise associated with the two nonpredictive subtests, student-college matches can be significantly improved.