NELSON-DENNY READING TEST AS A PREDICTOR OF POLICE RECRUIT TRAINING SUCCESS AND THE IMPACT OF BASIC READING SKILL LEVELS OVER A SIX YEAR PERIOD

The State of Florida mandates the training requirement for the certification of police officers. In recent years, the representation of females and minorities in the training classes of Dade County has increased. Public speculation regarding increased attrition rates and a general lowering of standards, both on the part of the agencies and the training academy, suggested the problem to be studied. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the scores obtained on the Nelson-Denny Reading Test (vocabulary, reading comprehension and total scores) and the final class average for the 1395 police recruits attending the training classes between 1975 and 1980. Additionally, the study proposed to test differences in the mean reading scores for each year compared with 1975, using sex and ethnicity as control variables, to ascertain whether the scores increased, decreased or remained constant. The design of the study was ex post facto, for which 18 research hypotheses were formulated. Pearson correlational coefficients, a multiple regression analysis, Chi-square analyses and multiple t-tests were performed to test the hypotheses. The analyses of the data indicated there were significant correlations (r = .52, .50 and .55) between the Nelson-Denny test scores and the final class average. The obtained prediction equation yielded only the upper range of final averages, regardless of the reading scores, due to the exclusion of non-completers. Chi-square analyses produced significant results between the high, middle and low reading scores and completion status. The results obtained from the t-test supported the general decline in reading means. Significant differences in reading means were obtained for each level of the independent variables on various pair-wise year comparisons and completion status, but significance was reported more frequently for males, Caucasians and completers in declining scores. The decline in scores was most evident in 1976, 1979 and 1980. In general, the mean reading scores for females were consistently higher than males, and the scores for Caucasians were consistently higher than either Hispanics or Blacks. Additionally, women and Blacks experienced a higher attrition rate.