Contributors of Success on the Automotive Service Excellence ( ASE) Student Certification Exam
Open Access
- Author:
- Vlacich, Robert K
- Graduate Program:
- Workforce Education and Development
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- October 03, 2017
- Committee Members:
- Mark D Threeton, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Mark D Threeton, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Judith A. Kolb, Committee Member
Wesley Edward Donahue, Committee Member
John Ewing, Outside Member - Keywords:
- ASE
Automotive Service Excellence
Automotive
Predictors of success
certification
exam - Abstract:
- The purpose of this study was to identify what essential elements contribute to success on the Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) Student Certification Exam. More specifically, variables such as the students’ performance in major specific courses, placement exam scores, work experience, or preadmission experiences were considered. Research on the effects of these variables may be useful in helping a program determine what contributes to a student’s success on the exam. This information may prove to be useful to automotive training programs as a means to identify students who may need additional or specialized training. It may also serve as a means to guide curriculum changes. At the time of this writing, there has been no published research which attempts to identify what variables predict success on the exam. A quantitative research method was used for this study. Participants in the study were students at the Pennsylvania College of Technology, School of Transportation and Natural Resources Technologies majoring in one of the following Associates Degrees: Automotive Technology, Automotive Technology Ford ASSET emphasis, Automotive Technology Honda PACT emphasis; or the Automotive Service Technician Certificate program. Students who complete all of their automotive major classes during the spring 2017 semester and complete the ASE Student Certification Exams were selected for the study. Of the 57 students who met the criteria in order to participate, 56 volunteered to participate. The data were obtained from Pennsylvania College of Technology records, ASE Student Certification Exam results, and an investigator developed questionnaire. Pearson Product Moment Correlations and a Spearman rank-correlation were calculated to determine the best predictors of success on the ASE Student Certification Exam. As a result of this study, it has been discovered that there is a direct correlation between performance in both Physics Survey (PHS103) and Technical Algebra and Trigonometry 1 (MTH124) and the ASE Student Certification Exam. It was also found that students who are required to participate in remedial math and/or remedial reading courses were likely to perform at a lower level than their counterparts on the exam. While work experience generally did not correlate to performance on the exam, automotive work experience did, suggesting the importance of applying the concepts learned in education out in the workforce. It was also found that students who participated in a secondary automotive CTE program were no more likely to perform well on the ASE Student Certification Exam. In fact, there was a negative correlation suggesting that those students were likely to perform at a lower level than their counterparts.