Achievement of High-Risk and Regular Students in Traditional and Innovative Psychology Courses

Abstract

Specially admitted freshmen (N = 155), mostly from low-income inner-city families, are compared with a sample of regularly admitted freshmen (N = 155) matched for size, sex, and college class. At admission the special students had lower high school percentile rankings and lower scores on tests of academic aptitude. In an introductory psychology course designed for them, their course grades and their scores on an objective criterion test, also used with regularly admitted students, averaged about half a grade point lower but were well within the C range. In a self-paced social psychology course second semester, their grades were virtually identical to those of their regularly admitted classmates; however, in traditionally taught second semester courses their grades averaged 1.5 grade points lower. Their mean freshman average was about half a grade point lower. The special course is described in detail and implications of the data are discussed.