Follow-up Study of Recruitment of College-Bound Students Through Use of the ACT Assessment File

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to: 1) further evaluate the methodology employed in the pilot studies for using ACT records in targeting college-bound young people for recruiting, and 2) develop mail-out .materials and identify ACT selection criteria that may be used to target students with other skills or interests. This effort was divided into three tasks. Task 1 involved a follow-up evaluation of the pilot studies, including: l)a .content analysis of comments made by recruiters who had processed leads resulting from the pilot studies, and 2) an examination of the relationships between demonstrated interest and responses to iterns 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 geineral approach, currently in use , of mailing general information regarding Army educational assistance to all students participating in the ACT program. Materials were developed in Task 3 to extend the target-specific approach to other specialized skill/aptitude areas. 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.