Gre Scores As Predictors Of Minority Students' Success In Graduate Study: An Argument For Change - Statistical Data Included

College Student Journal, June, 2001 by Charles Sampson, Patricia G. Boyer

Moreover, campus officials keep an eye on fiscal resources for obvious reasons. This increased scrutiny and pressure has resulted in providing graduate educational opportunities for only those thought to be able to successfully complete a graduate degree. In this era of successful financial investments, it is easier to argue for money to be spent on graduate students who will `bear tangible fruit.'

These same institutions desire to maintain their memberships in prestigious organizations such as American Associa-organizations such as American Association of Universities (AAU). Moreover, peer rankings of their programs as recorded by National Research Council (NRC. 1996) are also important, in many instances, these programs reject well over half of their applicants annually. One of the basis for rejecting the application is a requirement for very strong test scores or some combination of test scores, grades and other variables.

The challenge for the reformers such as the authors of this paper is about how to change the behaviors of those who continue to place undue emphasis on GRE scores. It is also about illustrating to institutions viable options for use in determining who will or will not succeed. Additionally, what should really matter are not admissions nor grades but performance in graduate school and afterwards making contributions to one's profession or discipline (Williams, 1997; Sternberg & Williams, 1997).

Finally, for this study, there is a high correlation between first year average and final grade point average, r = .743, p .0001. The quandary is determining an effective way to predict first year average and then one will be able to better predict who will or will not succeed in graduate school. Limitations of this study are the small sample size and because the focus is at one research institution, but this research can he generalized to other research institutions. Given that this study was retrospective in nature, these factors are not suggesting causation but suggest they are important factors that should be considered when decisions are being made related to minority students' access to graduate education.

The authors express thanks to Dr. Cherrie Boyer. Dr. Pat Somers and Dr. Sandy MacLean for their suggestions in preparation of this paper.

References

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Hodgkinson, Harold L., Hurst, Julie, & Levine, Howard. (1975). Improving and Assessing Performance: Evaluation in Higher Education. Center for Research and Development in Higher Education. University of California, Berkley: 33-42.