The GRE’s New Measure of ‘Noncognitive’ Qualities

The Chronicle of Higher Education Wednesday, December 3, 2008 Testing Service Describes GRE’s New Measure of ‘Noncognitive’ Qualities By ERIC HOOVER Chronicle of Higher Education No standardized test can capture everything there is to know about a student, but the Educational Testing Service says its Graduate Record Examination will soon reveal more about applicants than it does now. At the annual meeting of the Council of Graduate Schools, which begins today in Washington, officials of the service plan to unveil more information about the new, noncognitive component of the GRE. Taken by about 600,000 people each year, the exam is the gateway to Ph.D. programs. The GRE’s Personal Potential Index, first announced this spring, is scheduled to start in July. Using it, instructors will rate an applicant's qualities on a five-point scale. Those qualities are knowledge and creativity; communication skills; capacity for teamwork; resilience; planning and organizational skills; and ethics and integrity. The index will also allow instructors to provide additional comments about the applicant. Graduate admissions offices would receive a report that shows how each evaluator had scored the applicant, as well as a composite score for each category. Quantifying 'Nonacademic Success' The testing service based the index on a decade of research, as well on the recommendations of graduate-school officials. "They told us success in graduate school depends on things like resilience," said David G. Payne, associate vice president for college and graduate programs. "Unlike letters of recommendation, where it's a subjective decision about what to include, this will tell them what they need to cover." The index was not designed to replace letters of recommendation, but rather to supplement them, Mr. Payne said. In each of the six categories, instructors will answer several questions. The section on resilience, for instance, includes the attribute "Accepts feedback without getting defensive" and asks instructors to choose one of six assessments: "below average," "average," "above average," "outstanding (top 5 percent), "exceptional (top 1 percent)," or "I don't know." Michael J. Sullivan believes that the index can bring more fairness to evaluations of applicants. He directs Arizona State University's Project 1000, a national program that helps underrepresented students get into graduate programs. On average, test results show, black and Hispanic students score lower on the GRE than their white counterparts do. "I have great hopes for this," Mr. Sullivan said. "For many years we've needed a way to quantify nonacademic success." Officials of the testing service said adding the index—which is optional for students—would increase the $140 cost of the GRE by $10 to $15. Instructors, they said, could complete the questions in 15 minutes or less. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2008 by The Chronicle of Higher Education