Current emphasis on students’ academic adaptation in higher education necessitates the evaluation of predictors of successful preparation of first-year students. This study evaluated the implementation of early assessment (EA) in two first-year financial accounting courses at a South African university, namely an introductory financial accounting course, aimed at students without prior exposure to accounting, and a professional body accredited accounting course, aimed at students with prior exposure to accounting. This module-specific benchmark assessment, early in the academic year is often used as a predictor of preparation, adaptation and potential future academic performance. Given the discontinuation of a university, wide EA protocol within a faculty the academic contribution of the EA has been questioned. The study’s focus comprised two research questions, namely whether the EA can be used as a predictor of future academic performance of two different academic performance groups and whether students in a lower academic performance group are able to achieve success despite a low result in the EA. The research methodology included an analysis of variances to determine the correlation between the early assessment and either mid-year or final marks, as well as significance evaluation of the measured variance analysis using the Bonferroni test. The findings suggest that whilst the EA could potentially be used as an early warning sign for at-risk academically low performing students, the EA could also result in a misleading representation to students in the high academic performance category. Principally, the EA was found not to be a reliable predictor of future academic performance. In addition, the mixed results obtained from the evaluation of the effect of the nature and format of the assessment suggested that it had a low and non-meaningful effect on the predictive value of the early assessment. The fact that students in the academically low performance group were largely able to pass the module, however, suggests the success of intervention utilising the EA as an early warning. Higher education module developers could therefore consider the implementation of an appropriate EA in various undergraduate modules, based on the findings.

中文翻译：

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早期评估可预测学习成绩：南非大学一年级会计学生的早期评估和学习成绩之间的相互作用分析

当前强调学生在高等教育中的学术适应性，因此需要评估一年级学生成功准备的预测因素。这项研究评估了南非大学开设的两门第一年财务会计课程中的早期评估（EA）的实施情况，即针对不事先接触会计的学生开设的财务会计入门课程，以及旨在获得专业机构认可的会计课程。预先接触过会计的学生。在学年初期，这种针对模块的基准评估经常被用作预备，适应和未来潜在学业表现的预测指标。鉴于大学的停课，教师内部广泛的EA协议遭到质疑，因此EA的学术贡献受到质疑。该研究的重点包括两个研究问题，即是否可以将EA用作两个不同学术表现小组未来学业成绩的预测指标，以及尽管EA成绩低下，但学术成绩较低的学生是否能够取得成功。研究方法包括对方差的分析，以确定早期评估与年中或最终分数之间的相关性，以及使用Bonferroni检验对测得的方差分析进行显着性评估。研究结果表明，尽管EA可能会被用作对学习成绩低下的高风险学生的预警信号，但EA也可能导致对成绩优异的学生的误导。原则上，发现EA并不是未来学术表现的可靠预测指标。此外，从评估的性质和形式的效果评估中得出的混合结果表明，它对早期评估的预测值具有较低且无意义的影响。但是，学业成绩低下的学生基本上能够通过该模块，这表明使用EA作为早期预警的干预措施是成功的。因此，高等教育模块开发人员可以根据调查结果，考虑在各个本科模块中实施适当的EA。从评估的性质和形式的效果评估中得出的混合结果表明，它对早期评估的预测价值影响很小且无意义。但是，学业成绩低下的学生基本上能够通过该模块，这表明使用EA作为早期预警的干预措施是成功的。因此，高等教育模块开发人员可以根据调查结果，考虑在各个本科模块中实施适当的EA。从评估的性质和形式的效果评估中得出的混合结果表明，它对早期评估的预测价值影响很小且无意义。但是，学业成绩低下的学生基本上能够通过该模块，这表明使用EA作为早期预警的干预措施是成功的。因此，高等教育模块开发人员可以根据调查结果，考虑在各个本科模块中实施适当的EA。