PREDICTING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT FROM STUDY SKILLS …

PREDICTING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT FROM STUDY SKILLS HABITS AMONG UPWARD BOUND STUDENTS

DISSERTATION

Presented to the Graduate Council of the University of North Texas in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

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By

Kenny 0. McDougle, B.M.E., M.M., M.A, Denton, Texas May, 1989

w.i.R.

McDougle, Kenny 0., Predicting Academic. Achievement from Study Skills Habits Among Upward Bound Students. Doctor of Philosophy (Secondary Education), May, 1989, 92 pp., 12 tables, references, 70 titles.

The problem of this study was to determine if study habits can be used to predict academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between selected study skill habits and attitudes and achievement of secondary students in English, mathematics, and spelling.

The sample for this study consisted of 82 secondary school students participating in Upward Bound programs at two universities in the north Texas area in a six week period during the summer of 1988. Eighteen different high schools were represented in the study. The sizes of the schools ranged from small to very large.

Instruments used were the Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes, (SSHA) the Stanford Test of Academic Skills, (TASK), and the Otis-Lennon Mental Abilities Test (OLMAT). The statistical analysis indicated that the four subscores of the SSHA are not accurate predictors of academic achievement. However, some of

the correlations among the subscores for the SSHA and the TASK were significant. Most noteable of these were work methods and mathematics, teacher acceptance and mathematics, and work methods and spelling. The recommendation is made that the SSHA should not be used to predict academic achievement in Upward Bound programs. Improving study habits and attitudes should be addressed as a method of refining academic programs, not of predicting academic achievement.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT I wish to express appreciation to my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Curtis 0. McDougle for giving me the opportunity to reach this goal.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES .

Chapter I. INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY.

Page vx

Theoretical Background Statement of the Problem Purpose Research Questions Deliminations Definit ions of Terms Abbreviations Assumptions The Importance of the Study

II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE.

Study Skills

The Survey of Intelligence Upward Bound

The Survey of and Stanford

Summary

Study Habits and

Study Habits and Test of Academic

Attitudes

Attitudes Skills

III. METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

45

The Sample Instrumentation The Upward Bound Procedures

Program

Analysis

IV. RESULTS

53

Summary V. SUMMARY, FINDINGS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS . . 71

Summary of the Findings Findings Recommendations

IV

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