Follow-Up Study of Recruitment of College-Bound Students through Use of the ACT (American College Testing) Assessment File

摘要

The purpose of the study was to further evaluate the methodology employed in two FY 1985 pilot studies for using American College Testing Program (ACT) records in targeting college-bound high school students for recruiting. An additonal aim was to develop materials and identify ACT selection criteria that may be used to target students with particular educational backgrounds or interests. Task 1 involved a followed-up evaluation of the pilot studies, including: 1) a content analysis of comments made by recruiters who had processed leadds resulting from the pilot studies, and 2) an examination of the relationships between demonstrated interest and responses to items in the Student Profile Section of the ACT assessment file. Task 2 consisted of comparing the target-specific approach (i.e., tailoring mail campaign materials for a target group with specific aptitudes or interests) with the general approach, currently in use, of mailing general information regarding Army educational assistance to all students participating in the ACT program. The results of log-linear analyses indicated that the general approach was more effective in generating testers and enlistees among the general college-bound population, but was less effective in generating interest for foreign language students. The target-specific approach effectively generated interest among language students, bringing in high-mental-aptitude students for testing, yet it was not highly effective in producing enlistments. However, a cost-effectiveness analysis, showing only a modest cost increase for targeted recruiting, supports this approach, particularly for hard-to-fill military occupational specialties.