FOR RELEASE: Aug. 4, 1997
Contact: Susan Lang
Office: (607) 255-3613
Internet: [email protected]
Compuserve: Larry Bernard 72650,565
http://www.news.cornell.edu
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) does little to
predict who will do well in graduate school for psychology and quite likely
in other fields as well, according to a new study by Cornell and Yale
universities.
Of the three subtests of the GRE (verbal, quantitative and analytical) and
the GRE advanced test in psychology, only the analytical subtest predicted
any aspect of graduate success beyond the first-year grade point average
(GPA), and this prediction held for men only. The verbal subtest and
psychology test predicted first-year GPA, but this prediction vanished by
the second year's GPA.
"With these exceptions, the GRE scores were not useful as predictors of
various aspects of graduate performance, including ratings by primary
advisers of analytical, creative, practical, research and teaching
abilities by primary advisers and ratings of dissertation quality by
independent faculty readers," said Wendy M. Williams, associate professor
of human development at Cornell University.
Williams and her colleague, Robert J. Sternberg of Yale University -- both
experts on measures and theories of intelligence -- reported their findings
in the June issue of American Psychologist (Vol. 52, No. 6, pp. 630-641).
The researchers strongly suspect that the GREs may prove to lack validity
in predicting performance in other fields as well.
"We know from other researchers' work that the GREs also have failed to
predict success in the field of physics, and we suspect that the GREs will
fail to prove predictive for the humanities as well," Williams said.
"Instead of relying so heavily on the GREs -- and many applicants aren't
even considered if their GRE scores are not in the top group -- we need to
develop and use tests that measure meaningful performances in specific
areas. The GREs, including the one specifically for psychology, do not
assess many of the types of abilities required for succeeding as a
professional psychologist," Williams said.
She also pointed out that applicants from less privileged backgrounds, who
are not as likely to do as well on the GRE as applicants from good
preparatory schools, lose out even though they may have the appropriate
skills for the profession they desire. "Graduate programs rely so heavily
on GREs to make their initial cuts, many well-qualified applicants who are
strong in the appropriate areas aren't even being considered. This is a
huge disservice to the applicants, the graduate programs and society at
large."
The researchers set out to test the validity of the GRE, working within the
broader framework of the triarchic theory of human intelligence. The
triarchic theory distinguishes academic or analytical abilities from
creative and practical abilities.
"Academic-analytical abilities are used when one analyzes, compares and
contrasts, evaluates, judges or critiques," said Sternberg, who has
published widely on the theories of intelligence. "Creative abilities are
used when one invents, discovers, supposes, hypothesizes or theorizes.
Practical abilities are used when one applies, uses or implements."
To assess the validity of GREs in predicting success or failure of graduate
students, the researchers asked 40 faculty members of psychology at Yale to
provide ratings on five scales of the 166 graduate students they had had
since 1980. In addition, the researchers looked at GPAs of students in
their first and second years of graduate training and overall evaluations
of dissertations by outside, independent raters.
When the researchers looked at GRE scores and GPAs, they did find a
marginal relationship between the scores and grades in the first year of
graduate study. When they looked in more detail at the GRE subtests and
the genders separately, they found only one of them (the analytical test
score) successfully predicted more consequential evaluations of student
performance (dissertation reader ratings) -- but this was only true for
men. For women, there was no prediction.
"This study suggests the need to reflect on the use of tests before they
become firmly -- and, as it sometimes seems, irrevocably -- entrenched.
Too often, we believe, the use of a test becomes self-perpetuating, without
serious attempts to verify its effectiveness," the psychologists wrote.
"We believe that our results underscore the need for serious validation
studies of the GRE, not to mention other admissions indexes, against
measures of consequential performances, whether of students or of
professionals."
Next, Williams hopes to look at GRE scores of men and women in the social
sciences, natural sciences and humanities. GREs are developed by the
College Board of the Educational Testing Service.
The study was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Education.
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