Critical GPA and Standardized Test Score Admission Thresholds

Beth A. Myers; Angela R. Bielefeldt; Jacquelyn F. Sullivan

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Conference: 2019 CoNECD - The Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity
Location: Crystal City, Virginia
Publication Date: April 14, 2019
Start Date: April 14, 2019
End Date: April 22, 2019
Conference Session: Track : Pre-College - Technical Session 10
Tagged Topics: Diversity and Pre-College
Page Count: 20
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--31751
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/31751
Download Count: 386

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Paper Authors

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Beth A. Myers University of Colorado, Boulder

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Beth A. Myers is the Director of Analytics, Assessment and Accreditation at the University of Colorado Boulder. She holds a BA in biochemistry, ME in engineering management and PhD in civil engineering. Her interests are in quantitative and qualitative research and data analysis as related to equity in education.

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Angela R. Bielefeldt University of Colorado, Boulder

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Angela Bielefeldt is a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering (CEAE). She has served as the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Education in the CEAE Department, as well as the ABET assessment coordinator. Professor Bielefeldt was also the faculty director of the Sustainable By Design Residential Academic Program, a living-learning community where interdisciplinary students learn about and practice sustainability. Bielefeldt serves as the chair of ASEE's Community Engagement Division and on the AAAS Committee for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility. She is also a licensed P.E. Professor Bielefeldt's research interests in engineering education include service-learning, sustainable engineering, social responsibility, ethics, and diversity.

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Jacquelyn F. Sullivan University of Colorado, Boulder

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Jacquelyn Sullivan is founding co-director of the Engineering Plus degree program in the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Engineering and Applied Science. She spearheaded design and launch of the Engineering GoldShirt Program to provide a unique access pathway to engineering for high potential, next tier students not admitted through the standard admissions process; this program is now being adapted at several engineering colleges. Sullivan led the founding of the Precollege division of ASEE in 2004; was awarded NAE’s 2008 Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education, and was conferred as an ASEE Fellow in 2011. She has served on multiple NAE committees, and on the NSF ENG division's Advisory Committee.

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Abstract

Keywords: Undergraduate, Race/Ethnicity, Gender, Engineering

Abstract: We must increasingly engage and capitalize on the contributions of people from backgrounds underrepresented in engineering, especially women and people of color, if we are to educate enough engineers to meet demand and propel our nation’s competitiveness through an engineering workforce reflective of our nation’s diversity. This study focuses on broadening pathways into engineering, expanding both the diversity and size of the engineering student population. We hypothesized that engineering colleges’ over-reliance on standardized test scores in the admission process inadvertently denies admission to diverse students capable of becoming successful engineers. Using the Multiple-Institution Database for Investigating Engineering Longitudinal Development (MIDFIELD) database of 226,221 engineering students, an investigation of whether admission data supports using a singular combined threshold using both high school grade point average and standardized test scores, or whether the data suggests using another model for predicting success in engineering as measured by a six-year engineering graduation rate. Of the predictive models that spanned all 11 institutions, high school grade point average was the most influential in predicting six-year engineering graduation. The next influential variable in predicting six-year engineering graduation was the higher education institution or ethnicity—a finding that suggests that the best predictive admissions model is specific to an individual institution, not an across-institutional model. Standardized test score was the most significant predictor in only one of the 11 institutions when modeled separately and in three others after high school grade point average. In seven of the 11 institutions, test score was not found to be a significant predictor of six-year engineering graduation for underrepresented minority students. A better understanding of the admissions profile of each institution might help determine what other factors are at play. Other potential factors that come to mind are financial aid, first-generation college-attendance and socioeconomic status.

Citation
Format

Myers, B. A., & Bielefeldt, A. R., & Sullivan, J. F. (2019, April), Critical GPA and Standardized Test Score Admission Thresholds Paper presented at 2019 CoNECD - The Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity , Crystal City, Virginia. 10.18260/1-2--31751

TY - CPAPER
AB - Keywords: Undergraduate, Race/Ethnicity, Gender, Engineering

Abstract: We must increasingly engage and capitalize on the contributions of people from backgrounds underrepresented in engineering, especially women and people of color, if we are to educate enough engineers to meet demand and propel our nation’s competitiveness through an engineering workforce reflective of our nation’s diversity. This study focuses on broadening pathways into engineering, expanding both the diversity and size of the engineering student population. We hypothesized that engineering colleges’ over-reliance on standardized test scores in the admission process inadvertently denies admission to diverse students capable of becoming successful engineers. Using the Multiple-Institution Database for Investigating Engineering Longitudinal Development (MIDFIELD) database of 226,221 engineering students, an investigation of whether admission data supports using a singular combined threshold using both high school grade point average and standardized test scores, or whether the data suggests using another model for predicting success in engineering as measured by a six-year engineering graduation rate. Of the predictive models that spanned all 11 institutions, high school grade point average was the most influential in predicting six-year engineering graduation. The next influential variable in predicting six-year engineering graduation was the higher education institution or ethnicity—a finding that suggests that the best predictive admissions model is specific to an individual institution, not an across-institutional model. Standardized test score was the most significant predictor in only one of the 11 institutions when modeled separately and in three others after high school grade point average. In seven of the 11 institutions, test score was not found to be a significant predictor of six-year engineering graduation for underrepresented minority students. A better understanding of the admissions profile of each institution might help determine what other factors are at play. Other potential factors that come to mind are financial aid, first-generation college-attendance and socioeconomic status.
AU - Beth A. Myers
AU - Angela R. Bielefeldt
AU - Jacquelyn F. Sullivan
CY - Crystal City, Virginia
DA - 2019/04/14
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Critical GPA and Standardized Test Score Admission Thresholds
UR - https://peer.asee.org/31751
DO - 10.18260/1-2--31751
ER -