Criterion-focused approach to reducing adverse impact in college admissions

The current study examines how using a multidimensional battery of predictors (high-school grade point average (GPA), SAT/ACT, and biodata), and weighting the predictors based on the different values institutions place on various student performance dimensions (college GPA, organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), and behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS)), can increase the proportion of some ethnic subgroups often disadvantaged by the use of only traditional measures such as the SAT/ACT. The sample consisted of 836 students from 10 universities across the United States. Results show that meaningfully different proportions of groups would be admitted to universities when the predictors included noncognitive measures and the weights for the various components in the battery were based on performance dimensions other than first-year GPA. These dimensions should reflect institutional values.