The Problem of Multidimensionality in Course Scores and Course Choices in the Production of a Single Year 12 Tertiary Entrance Score

Abstract

The present study considers the problem of multidimensionality in Tertiary Entrance (TE) scores where a single TE score is the desired goal. Using data from the 1988 cohort of the ACT college system, course scores as assessed by teachers were shown to distinguish performance in a four-dimensional space. TE scores, computed using both a modified multiple regression strategy and the Daley's (1989) Other Course Score scaling method, were shown to be related to, at best, two of the four dimensions. A second phase of the study revealed the presence of multidimensionality in the choices of courses that students made when assembling their college curricula. These dimensions of course choice were subsequently related back to the demographic characteristics of the students and to the two types of TE scores. Conclusions were drawn regarding the dubious validity of assuming that a single TE score carries all the information needed to summarise the performance of secondary school students.