These figures of course indicate the same facts as those derived from the previous methods of expressing the data. The high school (H. S.) average correlates throughout with the college ranking, the correspondence becoming less apparent in the later college years. Similarly, the good students in the first high school year are the good ones all through the high school course, and the able college freshmen are able as sophomores, juniors and seniors. But both in high school and in college the significance of early standing becomes less and less as the years progress.
A. L. Jones[13] compared college entrance examinations with work done later in the college course, in the freshman and sophomore years. Two hundred men from the entering classes of 1907, 1911 and 1912, in Columbia College, were selected for study. These men were arranged in four groups, fifty in each group, on the basis of (a) their marks in entrance examinations, (b) their college marks in the first and second college years. Group I contains the best fifty individuals, Group II the fifty next best, etc. The following compiled table shows where the members of each group in entrance examinations stood in their college work:
SHOWING RELATIONS BETWEEN ENTRANCE RECORDS AND COLLEGE STANDING (JONES)
------------------------------------------------------------- | On Basis of Freshman Ranking On Basis of Entrance|--------------------------------------- Examinations | Group I | Group II|Group III| Group IV ---------------------+---------+---------+---------+--------- Group I (50 men) | 30 | 13 | 5 | 2 Group II (50 men) | 16 | 17 | 12 | 5 Group III (50 men) | 3 | 13 | 16 | 18 Group IV (50 men) | 1 | 7 | 17 | 25 ---------------------+--------------------------------------- On Basis of Entrance | Examinations | On Basis of Sophomore Ranking ---------------------+---------+---------+---------+--------- Group I (13 men) | 7 | 4 | 2 | 0 Group II (13 men) | 4 | 5 | 2 | 2 Group III (13 men) | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 Group IV (14 men) | 0 | 0 | 6 | 8 -------------------------------------------------------------
It appears from this table that there is a fairly well-marked tendency for the men to remain in the group in which they start. At least the larger number of men are found in college in about the same group in which they occurred on the basis of entrance examinations. Jones writes, "It is evident from an examination of these... data that entrance examinations, aside from other important uses claimed for them by their advocates, may fitly be taken as an important indication of the future career of the candidate for admission. They should of course be supplemented, and so should any other means of determining preparation for college. Those who have studied the question tell us that there is a high degree of correlation between intellectual qualities and others. A good test of intellectual fitness is, therefore, in some degree a test of other qualities also. Entrance examinations have their imperfections but there can be no doubt that they may serve as a solid foundation on which to build."