Differential Coursework of Students with Disabilities in High School: Implications for Performance on the ACT Assessment

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the more high school coursework completed by students with disabilities results in higher performance on the American College Testing entrance examination (ACT). Subjects include a total of 10,835 examinees with a diagnosed disability who took the ACT in 1991. The data were collected by ACT and includes the School Course/Grade Information questionnaire. Demographics including types of disabilities as well as the average ACT scores are presented. Multiple regression procedures are used to identify the unique contribution of each of the following variables in the prediction of the ACT scores: gender, disability, high school average, high school grade, credits earned, grade classification/ level, and type of school. The results indicate that, only for math, high school coursework completed is the best predictor of the corresponding ACT score' indicating that more time spent in math courses is associated with higher ACT Math performance. For English, however, high school credits earned do not appear to play a significant role in determining the ACT English score. Other findings, interpretations of the results, and practical implications are also discussed.

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