Basic Skills Across the Disciplines at the University Level: Reading, Language Arts, and Reference Skills.

The relationship of traditional and nontraditional variables to grades achieved by University of Portland (Oregon) students in five different majors (business, liberal arts, education, nursing, and engineering) was studied. Traditional variables were: the college major; freshman writing class grade; California Aptitude Test (CAT) scores in reading, language arts, and reference; gender; and race. Nontraditional variables were: high school attended, employment, community/church activities, athletics, citizenship, preferred language, parent education, and high school activities. Eighty-nine freshmen completed the CAT, Form D, and the Student Descriptive Surveys. The criterion was the fall 1986 grade point average (GPA). Multiple regression analysis indicated that traditional variables are better than nontraditional variables as predictors of academic achievement among the study group, at least for GPA, a short term measure. Nontraditional variables may prove more effective for academic achievement in long-term prediction of academic achievement and/or persistence. The best predictor of GPA was the grade received in the freshman writing class. Basic skills did not differ significantly among students in five different majors. (Author/SW)