ERIC Number: ED606658
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Mar
Pages: 5
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
SAT/ACT Scores, High-School GPA, and the Problem of Omitted Variable Bias: Why the UC Taskforce's Findings Are Spurious. Research & Occasional Paper Series: CSHE.1.2020
Geiser, Saul
Center for Studies in Higher Education
One of the major claims of the report of University of California's Task Force on Standardized Testing is that SAT and ACT scores are superior to high-school grades in predicting how students will perform at UC. This finding has been widely reported in the news media and cited in several editorials favoring UC's continued use of SAT/ACT scores in university admissions. But the claim is spurious, the statistical artifact of a classic methodological error: "omitted variable bias." Compared to high-school grades, SAT/ACT scores are much more strongly correlated with student demographics like family income, parental education, and race/ethnicity. As a result, when researchers omit student demographics in their prediction models, the predictive value of the tests is artificially inflated. When student demographics are included in the model, the findings are reversed: High-school grades in college-preparatory courses are actually the stronger predictor of UC student outcomes. The Task Force should go back to the drawing board and provide the UC community with more realistic estimates of the true value-added by the tests.
Descriptors: College Entrance Examinations, Grade Point Average, Standardized Tests, College Admission, Admission Criteria, Research Problems, Student Characteristics, Racial Differences, Social Differences, Individual Differences, Predictive Validity, Test Bias
Center for Studies in Higher Education. University of California, Berkeley, 771 Evans Hall #4650, Berkeley, CA 94720-4650. Tel: 510-642-5040; Fax: 510-643-6845; e-mail: cshe@berkeley.edu; Web site: http://cshe.berkeley.edu/
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: University of California, Berkeley. Center for Studies in Higher Education
Identifiers - Location: California
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: SAT (College Admission Test); ACT Assessment
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A