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This study reports a meta-analysis of the published literature on the relationship between GCE A-level attainment and degree performance. Effect sizes were computed based on 60 univariate analyses from 20 published studies spanning a period of 40 years. Results show the relationship between A-level attainment and degree performance to be small but significant, to be stronger for university than for polytechnic graduates, and to differ according to discipline studied in higher education. These findings support the conclusion that the predictive utility of A-levels is questionable, and furthermore suggest that learning approach and learning context may be among the mediating variables. The paper concludes with an appraisal of the psychometric problems encountered when investigating context performance relationships in higher education, and suggests directions for further research.A-level examinations serve the dual functions of assessing knowledge and predicting academic performance. The gatekeeper role that A-level examinations have with respect to higher education in England and Wales is well recognised. In 1990 approximately 90 per cent of entrants to universities were accepted on the basis of their A-level results (Smithers & Robinson, 1991).However, little attention has been paid, in the UK in recent years, to the relationship between knowledge prior to entry into higher education (A-level attainment) and subsequent degree performance. The most recent large-scale study to examine the relationship between A-levels and subsequent degree performance was 13 years ago (Sear, in 1979; published in 1983). Reviews of this particular literature are sparse, and either outdated or narrowly focused (Billing, 1973;Forrest, 1989). When synthesised by traditional review methods, findings were equivocal. Some studies have found either no relationship between A-levels and final degree performance or a negative relationship (Barnett & Lewis's 1963 re-analysis of Petch's data; Wankowski, 1970), whilst other investigators have reported small but positive corre-*Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Dr 1. Peers, School of Education, University of Manchester. Oxford Road, Manchester MI3 9PL.

Use of social reinforcement procedures to help a child substitute already established walking behavior for recently reacquired crawling behavior was studied in a nursery school situation. Adult attention was systematically given as an immediate consequence of one behavior and withheld as an immediate consequence of the other behavior. Results indicated that (a) adult attention had powerful reinforcement values; (b) reversal of reinforcement procedures had distinct positive effects; and (c) systematic use of reinforcement principles brought about rapid changes in behavior, seeming to facilitate both child learning and adult teaching. 1 The authors gratefully acknowledge indebtedness to S. W. Bijou, D. M. Baer, and J. S. Birnbrauer, without whose counsel and encouragement this study would not have been possible. R. G. Wahler also contributed generously to the development of observation techniques.

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