A new product launched by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) in July will help increase graduate school minority enrollment, according to officials with the Princeton, N.J.-based nonprofit testing and educational research organization.
The Personal Potential Index (PPI) will “compliment” recommendation letters from professors and the required Graduate Record Examinations in allowing students to ask their professors and supervisors to rate them among six traits: knowledge and creativity, teamwork, communication skills, resilience, planning and organization and ethics and integrity.
ETS produces, administers and scores tests for thousands of colleges and universities nationwide and internationally.
According to the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C., an estimated 360,000 Black, Latino, Native American and Asian-American graduate students were enrolled in the Fall 2007, compared with 916,369 White students.
“One reason [for fewer minorities in graduate school] is there is a well-known standardized test gap among minority and ethnic groups,” said Educational Testing Service research director
Kyllonen said recommendation letters from a professor help minority applicants, but specific attributes aren’t always mentioned.
“We ask specifically [in the PPI] about resilience. A faculty member may not mention that in the letter,” he said. “Each recommendation can read the same, but the evaluations with the PPI will be different for each student.”
ETS Vice President and Chief Operating Officer David G. Payne reiterated the index is a recommendation and not a requirement for students to use.
“Grade point average and GRE [scores are] important and sufficient, but when you pair them with the PPI, it makes them more comparable and efficient,” Payne said. “It makes graduate schools more diverse as well.”
