SHAWNEE STATE UNIVERSITY :: Student Success Plan

Academic Profile: SSU Freshmen and Upperclassmen Average Scores Compared to Reference Group Average Scores

Prepared by: Kimberly A. Lata, Institutional Research Analyst

June, 2005

The data presented in this report shows SSU Freshmen and SSU Upperclassmen average scores on the Academic Profile as compared to the reference group average scores established by ETS for a self-selected reference group of institutions. The score data is based on students taking the Academic Profile between December 1995 and August 2004. Freshmen include entering freshmen and other freshmen. Upperclassmen include juniors and seniors.

The following institutions are included in the reference groups. These institutions were self-selected as being near to SSU in composition, size, and having an open admission policy, thereby making them more appropriate for comparative purposes.

*Freshmen Reference Group:*
Bartlesville Wesleyan College, OK	LSU – Alexandria, LA
Central Virginia Community College, VA	Mesa State College, CO
Howard Community College, MD	Montcalm Community College, MI
Kishwaukee College, IL	So. Ohio College Northeast, OH
Lamar Community College, CO	Southwestern Adventist College, TX

*Upperclassmen Reference Group:*
Black Hills State University, SD	National University, CA
East West University, IL	Northern Kentucky University, KY
Ferris State University, MI	Southeastern Louisiana University, LA
Grambling State University, LA	University of Southern Indiana, IN
LSU – Shreveport, LA	Wayland Baptist University, TX
Mount Saint Clare College, IA

The charts on the following pages show SSU Freshmen and SSU Upperclassmen average scores, compared to the reference group average score for Freshmen and Upperclassmen, in the areas of: Humanities, Social Science, Natural Science, Reading, Writing, Critical Thinking, Math, and Total. Each chart shows the SSU average scores compared to the reference group average scores over time.

The data presented in the table beneath each chart shows SSU Freshmen and SSU Upperclassmen Academic Profile average scores compared to Reference Group average scores in each particular area. One-sample t-tests were done to determine whether the mean differences were significant at the .05 level of probability.

As can be seen in the tables, there were significant differences found in several areas for both Freshmen and Upperclassmen. Positive differences reflect areas where SSU Freshmen or SSU Upperclassmen average scores were higher than the average scores for the reference group. Negative differences reflect areas where SSU Freshmen and SSU Upperclassmen average scores were lower than the reference group average scores.

An important note regarding the data in the charts and tables that follow must be made. Because ETS did not provide average scores for the freshmen reference group in any of the test areas for June 2000, an average score was calculated from the average scores provided for other test times. Average scores for both the freshmen and upperclassmen reference groups were also calculated for all test areas from June 2001 to August 2004 since no new average scores were provided by ETS for the reference groups. Since calculating an average from the other averages available works on the assumption that the reference group performed about the same as usual, the calculated average does not reflect the true average score. Great care must be taken when making any interpretation of how SSU students did compared to the reference group based on t-tests from the calculated averages.

Another change from previous versions of this report is that the score data for each year was calculated for the entire year, instead of for June and December for each year. Because of this, the score data for the reference groups were averaged together also. Having data for the year should make the results easier to read, since the tables and charts are less congested with data.

For the purposes of this report, Teacher Education students were excluded from the comparisons of profile averages from December 2001 to August 2004. Because Teacher Education students can use the results of the Academic Profile in lieu of taking the Praxis exam, it is believed these students attempt to try harder and thus will skew the results of the exam.

Freshmen
Humanities
AY	Average SSU	National Norm		Difference		t	significant at .05 or greater
1995	111.57	112.45		-0.88		-3.41	*
1996	111.84	112.11		-0.27		-1.31
1997	112.29	112.67		-0.38		-0.75
1998	111.02	112.36		-1.34		-6.01	*
1999	110.77	112.61		-1.84		-8.82	*
2000	109.52	112.39		-2.87		-11.94	*
2001	111.05	112.43		-1.38		-5.41	*
2002	111.04	112.43		-1.39		-5.51	*
2003	110.8	112.43		-1.63		-5.72	*
2004	111.84	112.43		-0.59		-0.76

Upperclassmen
Humanities
AY	Average SSU		National Norm		Difference	t	significant at .05 or greater
1995	115.13		115.55		-0.42	-0.71
1996	115.94		115.41		-53	1.95	*
1997	115.35		115.57		-0.22	-0.58
1998	115.34		115.16		0.18	0.64
1999	114.87		114.69		0.18	0.64
2000	113.98		115.49		-1.51	-5.19	*
2001	112.82		115.29		-2.47	-7.36	*
2002	113.58		115.29		-1.71	-3.73	*
2003	114.43		115.29		-0.87	-1.18
2004	113.85		115.29		-1.44	-2.97	*

Freshmen
Social Sciences
AY	Average SSU	National Norm	Difference	t	significant at .05 or greater
1995	110.64	111.79	-1.15	-5.21	*
1996	110.79	111.14	-0.35	-2.01	*
1997	110.54	111.83	-1.29	-2.74	*
1998	110.12	111.55	-1.43	-7.55	*
1999	109.87	111.87	-2	-10.98	*
2000	108.86	111.68	-2.82	-13.33	*
2001	109.84	111.63	-1.8	-7.61	*
2002	109.55	111.63	-2.08	-8.8	*
2003	109.18	111.63	-2.45	-9.2	*
2004	111.24	111.63	-0.39	-0.53

Upperclassmen
Social Sciences
AY	Average SSU	National Norm	Difference	t	significant at .05 or greater
1995	114.02	114.93	-0.91	-1.83
1996	114.19	114.64	-0.45	-1.8
1997	114.03	114.67	-0.64	-1.86
1998	114.17	114.53	-0.36	-1.35
1999	113.17	113.98	-0.81	-3.17	*
2000	112.44	115.08	-2.64	-10.17	*
2001	111.47	114.61	-3.14	-10.35	*
2002	111.76	114.61	-2.85	-6.93	*
2003	113.13	114.61	-1.49	-2.06	*
2004	111.72	114.61	-2.89	-6.79	*

Freshmen
Natural Sciences
AY	Average SSU	National Norm	Difference	t	significant at .05 or greater
1995	112.56	113.85	-1.29	-5.32	*
1996	112.95	113.47	-0.52	-2.6	*
1997	113.1	114.02	-0.92	-1.91
1998	111.96	113.82	-1.86	-8.51	*
1999	111.76	114.06	-2.3	-11.49	*
2000	110.37	113.76	-3.39	-13.99	*
2001	111.05	113.83	-2.78	-10.64	*
2002	110.96	113.83	-2.87	-11.61	*
2003	110.66	113.83	-3.17	-11.38	*
2004	112.34	113.83	-1.49	-2.04	*

Upperclassmen
Natural Sciences
AY	Average SSU	National Norm	Difference	t	significant at .05 or greater
1995	116.5	116.8	-0.3	-0.59
1996	116.49	116.54	-0.05	-0.2
1997	116.4	116.55	-0.15	-0.43
1998	116.23	116.62	-0.39	-1.4
1999	115.78	116.22	-0.44	-1.62
2000	114.8	117.19	-2.4	-8.84	*
2001	113.03	116.64	-3.61	-11.07	*
2002	113.18	116.64	-3.47	-8.04	*
2003	114.55	116.64	-2.1	-3.1	*
2004	113.11	116.64	-3.53	-7.47

Freshmen
Reading
AY	Average SSU	National Norm	Difference	t	significant at .05 or greater
1995	114.14	115.5	-1.36	-4.61	*
1996	114.74	115.56	-0.82	-3.43	*
1997	114.96	116.14	-1.18	-2.06	*
1998	113.59	115.76	-2.17	-8.41	*
1999	112.99	116.2	-3.21	-13.21	*
2000	111.4	115.65	-4.25	-14.76	*
2001	113.16	115.83	-2.67	-8.89	*
2002	112.92	115.83	-2.91	-9.61	*
2003	112.33	115.83	-3.51	-10.03	*
2004	114.33	115.83	-1.5	-1.67

Upperclassmen
Reading
AY	Average SSU	National Norm	Difference	t	significant at .05 or greater
1995	118.33	119.95	-1.62	-2.53	*
1996	119.12	119.55	-0.43	-1.48
1997	118.61	119.42	-0.81	-1.94	*
1998	118.74	119.49	-0.75	-2.33	*
1999	117.62	118.89	-1.27	-3.95	*
2000	116.26	120.16	-3.9	-11.85	*
2001	114.76	119.54	-4.78	-12.27	*
2002	116.1	119.54	-3.44	-6.93	*
2003	117.4	119.54	-2.14	-2.46	*
2004	116.25	119.54	-3.29	-6.28

Freshmen
Writing
AY	Average SSU	National Norm	Difference	t	significant at .05 or greater
1995	112.37	113.18	-0.81	-3.48	*
1996	112.35	112.2	0.15	0.79
1997	112.24	112.98	-0.74	-1.59
1998	111.6	112.62	-1.03	-5.11	*
1999	111.64	113.17	-1.53	-8.16	*
2000	110.27	113.08	-2.81	-12.49	*
2001	110.85	112.84	-1.99	-8.75	*
2002	110.61	112.84	-2.23	-10.33	*
2003	110.63	112.84	-2.21	-8.22	*
2004	111.93	112.84	-0.91	-1.51

Upperclassmen
Writing
AY	Average SSU	National Norm	Difference	t	significant at .05 or greater
1995	115.83	115.62	-21	0.41
1996	115.87	115.49	0.38	1.58
1997	115.42	115.75	-0.33	-1.03
1998	115.48	115.11	0.37	1.51
1999	115.01	115	0.01	0.05
2000	114.46	115.27	-0.81	-3.25	*
2001	112.93	115.35	-2.42	-8.48	*
2002	112.91	115.35	-2.44	-6.68	*
2003	113.91	115.35	-1.44	-2.23	*
2004	113.21	115.35	-2.14	-5.41	*

Freshmen
Critical Thinking
AY	Average SSU	National Norm	Difference	t	significant at .05 or greater
1995	108.28	109.48	-1.2	-5.91	*
1996	108.49	108.95	-0.47	-2.7	*
1997	108.73	109.54	-0.81	-1.7
1998	107.91	109.41	-1.5	-8.12	*
1999	107.77	109.2	-1.43	-8.52	*
2000	107.08	109.15	-2.07	-10.66	*
2001	107.43	109.27	-1.85	-7.89	*
2002	107.35	109.27	-1.93	-8.72	*
2003	107.23	109.27	-2.04	-8.39	*
2004	108.97	109.27	-0.3	-0.41

Upperclassmen
Critical Thinking
AY	Average SSU	National Norm	Difference	t	significant at .05 or greater
1995	111.48	111.85	-0.37	-0.73
1996	111.62	111.65	-0.03	-0.12
1997	111.75	111.75	0	0
1998	111.52	111.84	-0.32	-1.18
1999	111.19	111.14	0.05	0.19
2000	110.5	112.53	-2.03	-7.8	*
2001	109.53	111.78	-2.25	-7.78	*
2002	109.5	111.78	-2.28	-5.31	*
2003	110.7	111.78	-1.08	-1.49
2004	109.42	111.78	-2.36	-4.97	*

Freshmen
Math
AY	Average SSU	National Norm	Difference	t	significant at .05 or greater
1995	111.29	111.82	-0.53	-2.45	*
1996	111.68	111.35	0.33	1.78
1997	110.78	111.97	-1.19	-2.57	*
1998	111.25	111.5	-0.25	-1.3

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