The Predictive Validity of College Admission Criteria the Case of 2007/08 Entrants of Kotebe College of Teacher Education

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to assess whether or not admission criteria used by Kotebe College of Teacher Education (KCTE) are valid in predicting success in college academic performance. Four hundred twenty five regular diploma program students were included in the study from 2007/08 academic year entrants. The Ethiopian General Secondary Education Certificate Examination GPA, high school average score, and entrance exam result of these students were collected from the document of the Registrar’s Office and Recruiting Committee of KCTE. Correlation and regression analyses were employed on the data. The results indicated that high school average score, entrance exam result and EGSECE GPA in order as selection instruments appeared to be valid predictors of first semester college GPA and jointly accounted for 13.20 percent of the variation in College’s performance. Based on their predictive power, high school average score was the most important admission variable followed by entrance exam result while EGSECE GPA was the least important admission variable. Finally, implications of the results of the study are indicated.