This purpose of the present study was to estimate minimum admission requirements using cognitive measures that will maximize candidate success on the doctoral comprehensive examination. Moreover, the present study established minimum scores on the Graduate Record Examinations (verbal and quantitative components) that will maximize doctoral student success of first-time takers of the Doctoral Comprehensive Examination. This study test for the existence of the relationship between the independent variable of determining cognitive cutoff scores based on organizational leadership and the dependent variable academic achievement. The results of this study significantly indicated that there is a minimum cognitive discriminant score that will provide a cutoff score of 740, GRE Total (GRET); 370, GRE Verbal (GREV); 370, and GRE Quantitative (GREQ).

Discriminant function analysis was used to predict membership in two mutually exclusive groups i.e. pass or fail after the first attempt on the Doctoral Comprehensive Examination. This type of analysis was done in order to determine the probability of a doctoral student's academic achievement, based on the assessment of the independent cognitive measure variables. The type of research design for this study was a correlational design. The subjects consisted of 138 education doctoral students from fall 2002 to spring 2009. The doctoral students were enrolled in a doctoral urban education program at a University in the Southeast region of Texas.

The independent variable in this study was determining minimum cognitive cutoff scores. For this study, the minimum cognitive scores based on organizational leadership (educational administrative management), the students' GRE scores, served as independent variables. The dependent variable in this study was the students' academic achievement. The students' Doctoral Comprehensive Examination pass rate scores served as the dependent variable. The independent variables minimum cognitive cutoff scores (GRE) are continuous variables, whereas academic achievement (Doctoral Comprehensive Examination scores) is a dichotomous variable. This study test for the existence of the relationship between the independent variable of determining cognitive cutoff scores based on organizational leadership and the dependent variable academic achievement.

Academic achievement success on the Doctoral Comprehensive Examination based on Graduation Record Examination (GRE) was examined for both groups. Passers scored significantly higher than non-passers on all dimensions of organizational leadership: GRE Verbal, GRE Quantitative and Graduate Writing Course attempted. However, GRE Verbal was a recurrent factor in both discriminant function analysis and analysis of group differences. The benefits of considering a minimum cutoff score are discussed. The analysis of this material will deliver valuable insights for future improvements of doctoral education programs. This paper will determine whether program changes are warranted based on differences that are revealed in this study and the study will offer recommendations for further research.