Abstract
For a sample of 71 full-time students attending a large community college in the San Francisco Bay area, the objective of this investigation was to examine the degree of relationship between GPA earned during one academic quarter and: (a) an ability measure defined as scores on the composite of four academic tests in the ACT Assessment (American College Testing Program, 1959–1980) or scores on the College Board Scholastic Aptitude Test (Educational Testing Service, 1948–1980) that had been converted to scores on the academic composite of the ACT Assessment; (b) standing on an expectancy measure defined as a student's anticipated GPA; (c) scores on each of six measures representing a valence construct that indicates the relative desirability of long-range student goals; (d) scores on each of six measures portraying an instrumentality construct reflecting the facilitative effect of college grades (a short-term goal) as perceived by students in realizing long-term goals (such as vocational success or enduring friendships); and (e) an unweighted linear combination of a scholastic aptitude test score and placement on a contrived motivational construct constituting a multiplicative function of the expectancy, valence and instrumentality constructs consistent with Vroom's (1964, 1965) conceptualization. Ability and expectancy measures were found to be useful in predicting academic performance of community college students. The valence and instrumentality constructs contributed little, if any, validity to prediction of academic performance.