Historical records matching Earl Alexander Coddington
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About Earl Alexander Coddington
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/aug/14/opinion/le-letters14.S1
Some years ago, my colleague, the late professor Earl Coddington of the UCLA mathematics department, did a careful statistical study of which aspect of the UCLA entering-freshmen's academic records best correlated with subsequent performance as a UCLA mathematics student.
SAT scores had a very low correlation with performance at UCLA. The statistical correlation was positive -- better scores were vaguely connected with better grades at UCLA -- but the connection was very weak. By far the best predictor, and one with a very strong correlation with performance, was high school grades. About the only thing well predicted by standardized tests seemed to be the ability to take similar standardized tests later on (good SAT, good GRE.)
Before the American educational establishment sinks even further into the morass of standardized testing, perhaps there should be a more systematic and unbiased investigation of whether these tests are identifying potential to do anything at all -- except to do well on other tests in the future.
Robert E. Greene
Pacific Palisades
Is there no end to stupidity in education? One testing company wants to test eighth-graders. A rival says, "Eighth grade is not the key year for college assessment. It's sixth grade." Please tell me that's a misprint!
Let's test the kindergartners and set up college prep portfolios for first-graders. Send all nonstellar second-graders to the factories and fields. Horrid idea? Yes, but so are the suggestions in your article. We are systematically ruining any love of learning that we are supposed to be fostering.
Ann Bourman
Los Angeles
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Earl Alexander Coddington's Timeline
| 1920 |
December 16, 1920
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Washington, DC, USA
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| 1991 |
November 11, 1991
Age 70
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Los Angeles, CA, USA
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