skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Search for: All records

Creators/Authors contains: "Backes, B"

Note: When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
What is a DOI Number?

Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from this site.

  1. Because of their open enrollment policies, community colleges serve large numbers of students whose K–12 education has left them unready to succeed in college-level courses. Colleges typically use test scores such as the ACT to place students into appropriate course levels. However, the use of test-based measures alone has been criticized as being an incomplete measure of students’ ability. As a result, most colleges have begun to use high school grade point average (HSGPA) to supplement placement policy. We examine one such reform enacted across the 16 colleges in the Kentucky Community & Technical College System (KCTCS). We find that the number of students deemed college ready upon entrance to KCTCS substantially rose after HSGPA was added and that HSGPA is a stronger predictor of passing gateway courses than ACT scores. Newly college ready students based on HSGPA but not ACT scores generally had weaker first-year outcomes than students who met ACT college readiness benchmarks, but the gaps in gateway course enrollment and completion narrowed during the study period. However, we are unable to attribute the narrowing of these gaps solely to the use of HSGPA because of other concurrent developmental education reforms. 
    more » « less
    Free, publicly-accessible full text available May 29, 2026