Students Can’t be Classified Based on Test Scores  

New research from Michigan State University suggests that while test scores and GPAs are useful, they have limited value in predicting leadership skills, close interpersonal relationships and a sound sense of ethics. Researchers also claim the disproportionate focus on academic performance tends to hurt certain minority groups, such as Blacks and Hispanics.

The study, which will appear in an article in the Journal of Applied Psychology next year, indicates that a combination of factors can be used to help level the playing field when it comes to judging incoming college freshmen.

The researchers surveyed more than 2,700 freshmen at 10 colleges and universities across the United States about their overall college experience. Their responses were then grouped into five distinct categories.

The “low academic, career-oriented students” were characterized by dismal test scores and GPAs, but displayed top marks when it came to career orientation. Hispanic and Black students were four to five times more likely to be members of this cluster than were Asian or White students. Also, women were twice as likely as men to be in the group.

Other groups included the “high ability, culturally limited,” the “able artistic group” and the “academically able, well-rounded group.”

The authors, including professors Neal Schmitt and Fred Oswald, say student success someday could influence a range of educational endeavors, including “the development of curricular and extracurricular programs, career counseling and training materials, and college admissions criteria.”

Female faculty apply for research patents less than men, although the gender gap is narrowing, concludes a new study published in the Aug. 4 issue of Science magazine.

Female life scientists in higher education patent their work 60 percent less frequently than their male peers. The study suggests that women are not as exposed to the commercial sector as men are, and they worry that pursuing commercial opportunities might hold back their university careers.