10.17889/E112026
Evans, Brent J.
Bettinger, Eric P.
Pope, Devin G.
Replication data for: Improving College Performance and Retention the Easy Way: Unpacking the ACT Exam
ICPSR Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
2013
10.1257/pol.5.2.26
10.1257/pol.5.2.26
V0
Improving college performance and retention can be difficult. We
propose a simple and low-cost change in the way colleges use the
ACT exam in their admission decisions that can greatly increase
their ability to identify students at a high risk of underperforming
and dropping out. Specifically, we show that only two of the four
subtests of the ACT, English and Mathematics, can effectively predict
outcomes in college. This result is robust across various samples,
specifications and outcome measures. We demonstrate that by
eliminating the noise associated with the two nonpredictive subtests,
student-college matches can be significantly improved. (JEL I23)