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How to Measure School
Success
To be successful in school, students need
more than just intelligence. They must have an understanding
of the foundational values and skills required by institutions of higher
learning. Some students have learned these values to a greater
degree than others, and have integrated them into their lives,
while others have a poor sense of the skills necessary to
succeed in school. These values and skills essential to
academic success, together, are called academic aptitude.
What is
Academic Aptitude?
What do we mean by academic aptitude? It may
be defined as a set of foundational characteristics (both innate
and learned) which allow students to complete tasks, learn
certain skills, and discern values. Academic aptitude may be
enhanced, forgotten, or rarely used but, most importantly, it
can be improved.
After 12 years of working with 100 colleges,
and 20,000 students, we identified eight areas (or factors)
which were the key elements of academic aptitude. These eight
factors were: Responsibility
vs. Control, Competition, Task
Precision, Expectations, Wellness, Time Management, College
Involvement, and Family
Involvement. For descriptions of the eight factors, click
here.
Let's examine one of the eight factors, Task
Precision, as an example. Those students who score high for
Task Precision often check and recheck their assignments
before handing them in. They pay close attention to the
grammar and spelling in their term papers. The care and
precision which they exhibit in their academic work, qualities
which existed and were learned prior to completing that work,
determine their grades and their success. Task Precision is
therefore one element of academic aptitude--both a skill and a value--which must
be learned by students in order to succeed in
school.
These eight factors of academic aptitude are
the measurements for the College Success Factors Index (CSFI)
and the School Success Factors Index
(SSFI). Both
surveys use 80 self-scoring statements for students to
rate from "I strongly agree" to "I strongly
disagree". The score of the test is determined
by how the student's responses are compared with an
extensive norm group of 15,000 students from all other the
country.
For extensive research and technical data concerning the
CSFI, the SSFI, and the eight factors of academic aptitude,
click here.
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