1 Graduate Record Examination (GRE) Use Survey The University of Pittsburgh’s Senate Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Discrimination Advocacy Committee's Education Working Group Ellen Ansell Brenda Cassidy Kathryn Gardner Kacey Marra Natasha Tokowicz Fall 2018
9
Embed
Graduate Record Examination (GRE) Use Survey · Graduate Record Examination (GRE) Use Survey The University of Pittsburgh’s Senate Equity ... Natasha Tokowicz Fall 2018 2 Introduction
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
IntroductionAnincreasinggoalingraduateadmissionsistoincreasediversity.Onewaytoaccomplishthisistousewhathasbeentermed“holisticreview”,whichplacesemphasisontheentireapplicationpackage,ratherthanemphasizingquantitativeaspectsalone(seetheattacheddocument entitled “Holistic Review in Graduate Admissions: A report by the Council ofGraduateSchools”formoreinformation).Anumberofuniversitieshavemadestandardizedtestssuchas theGREoptionalorhavestoppedrequiringit,ashaveentirefields.Forexample,theAmericanAstronomicalSocietycreated a policy (https://aas.org/governance/society-resolutions#GRE) that encouragesastronomy departments to not require GRE scores for admission because these scores“correlatewithdemographiccharacteristicsunrelatedtopotentialforgraduatestudy,suchasgender,raceandsocioeconomicstatus”andfurtherthey“arepoorpredictorsofsuccessingraduatestudyintheastronomicalsciences”.EventheVicePresidentoftheEducationalTestingService(ETS),whichmakestheGRE,questionswhetheritshouldbeusedbecauseit reduces the number of minority graduate students(https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/06/06/ets-plans-encourage-graduate-departments-de-emphasize-gre).ThereismixedevidenceregardingthepredictivevalueoftheGRE;seetheattacheddocumentforanannotatedbibliographyentitled“TheGREandIts PredictiveValidity forGraduate Student Success” compiledby theGraduateDiversityProgram, UC Berkeley (December, 2014). Furthermore, there are several best practicessuggestedbyETSregardinghowtheGREshould(andshouldnot)beused(seetheattachedInfographicprovidedbyETS).
SurveyWeconducteda surveyof theUniversityofPittsburgh’soveralluseof theGREexam foradmissions decisions, because of the concern for the effects of using scores from thisstandardized test on female and minority applicants. We focused on ETS’s suggestionsregardinghowthetestshouldbeusedinmakingadmissionsdecisions.Here,wereviewthefindingsofthatsurvey.The request to complete the survey was sent via email to a distribution list includinggraduateprogramdirectorsonJune18,2018.Afollow-upemailwassentonJuly11,witharequestthatthesurveybecompletedbyJuly15.ThelastresponsewasmadeonJuly25.A total of 98 responsesweremade. The email indicated that if admissionsdecisions aremadedifferentlyinseparatedivisionsofthedepartment, itwouldbeappropriatetohavethosedivisionsrespondseparatelytothesurvey.Therefore,somedepartmentsrespondedtothesurveymultipletimes.Someresponseswereincompleteorwereobviousduplicates;oncethesewereremoved,82responsesremained.
34individualsgavetheirnameinresponsetoaquestionthatsaidthattheycouldprovideitiftheywishedtofindoutmoreaboutincreasingdiversity/bestpracticesinusingtheGRE.Space was provided for individuals to leave open-ended comments. Below are somenotablecomments.
ConclusionInconclusion,ouranalysisdemonstratedthatmostprograms/departmentsoncampusthatresponded to our survey do currently require the GRE for admissions decisions.Fortunately, only a small number of programs use the GRE in ways that ETS wouldconsiderproblematic,withtheexceptionofthequestionindicatingthat32%ofprogramsuseacutoffbutwithexceptions(seeAppendixAfortheexplanationsgiven).Thatsaid,thecommentsthatwere left in thesurvey implythat therearepreferredGREscoreseven inprograms/departmentsthatdon’thavestrictcutoffs,soeliminatingGREscoresormakingthemoptionalcouldincreasediversityeveninthesecases.Thismakesholisticinterviewinganattractiveoption.Commentswehaveheardfromcolleaguesandinthesurvey(seealso
7
the Council of Graduate Schools report) suggest that programswould bemore likely tomovetoalternativeinterviewingstrategiesiftheywereprovidedmoreinformationabouthow to accomplish this with existing resources. An additional important issue that wasraised (see comments above) is how students would be nominated for university-widefellowships without standardized test scores. Finally, we note that a number ofrespondentswereeagertohearmore,ortogetridoftheGRErequirement.
RecommendationOnerecommendation is tocreateauniversity-wideadhoccommitteeto furtherexaminethisissue.