Influence of placement on the success of first time freshmen taking college algebra in a southeastern Louisiana community college

This study had four purposes: (1) to investigate the discriminating effectiveness of the COMPASS test for performance in college algebra, (2) to investigate the discriminating effectiveness of high school grade point average for performance in college algebra, (3) to investigate the combined effectiveness of both the COMPASS test and high school grade point average in discriminating between success and nonsuccess in college algebra, and (4) to determine if there were any differences in performance in college algebra between two different course formats, one meeting for three hours each week and another for five hours each week.;A correlation analysis revealed that only COMPASS Algebra scores and high school grade point averages were significantly correlated with performance in college algebra. Individual discriminant analyses using each of the four independent variables revealed that only COMPASS Algebra scores and high school grade point average discriminated between successful (with a final grade of A, B, or C) and nonsuccessful (with a final grade of D or F) completion of college algebra.;A discriminant analysis using all four of the independent variables revealed that the combination of all of the independent variables discriminated between successful and nonsuccessful completion of college algebra better than either of the independent variables when they were considered individually.;A two-way ANOVA was conducted to see if mean COMPASS scores or high school grade point averages differed across two versions of college algebra and successful/nonsuccessful completion. The results of the analysis indicated that COMPASS Algebra scores differ not only with respect to performance in college algebra, but also across the two different versions of college algebra.