Group Differences in Student Performance in the Selection to Higher Education: Tests vs Grades

Abstract

Student selection in the Swedish admission to higher education system is based on two fundamentally different performance measures: their criterion-referenced upper secondary grade point average (GPA) and their score on a norm-referenced and multiple-choice admissions test [Swedish admissions test (SweSAT)]. Several student characteristics are known to affect rankings in such assessments. The objectives of this study are to assess main and interactive effects of several variables that influence rankings obtained from these measures in greater detail than previously attempted and assess the findings from a fairness perspective. The data consist of test scores, upper secondary grades, and background information for SweSAT participants aged 19-25 years, who took the test in the autumn of 2011 (N = 23,214) or spring of 2012 (N = 27,075). The data were analyzed through correlation and regression analyses. The results support previous findings that gender, parents' education, and immigration status are all influential. Males obtain better SweSAT scores than females, while females obtain better GPAs, in accordance with previous findings regarding gender-related variations in rankings provided by similar instruments. Moreover, we found the same pattern in scores for specific components of the test and grades in specific subjects, suggesting that the test and GPA measure different, gender-related, things. In addition, students with an immigrant background seem to be more highly ranked by grades than by the SweSAT, largely due to differences in assessments of their verbal skills.

Can Assessment Be a Panacea for All Education’s Ills? The Case of an Entrance Examination to Ghana School of Law

“…The results generally show that school grades have higher predictive value than the admission tests (Lyrén, 2008;Wolming and Wikström, 2010). According to Wikström & Wikström (2017), "These findings are consistent with international observations that academic performance is more strongly correlated with school grades than with admissions' test scores" (p.2). The general conclusion from these studies is that the two types of measurements predict differently because in essence, they measure different attributes.…”

“…Selection tests introduce rigor in the selection process and are used in situations where available spaces fall short of the demand or where certain aptitudes are required. In such situations, the quality of entrants is carefully considered because it has implications for the educational institution, the individual student and the wider society (Wikström & Wikström 2017). Similarly, the fairness of the selection instrument is carefully considered because the inherent qualities of the instrument can either favor or disadvantage groups of people to be selected which can have implications for social ideology (Wolming, 2001).…”

“…But whichever procedure is adopted has an impact on the individuals admitted because studies have found that various factors and the format of the instrument do impact the results (Zwick 2002(Zwick , 2004. Whether it is the pre-qualification or the admission test that is used, they both have their critics but it is the use of admission tests, which in most cases are standardized tests, that has been the most criticized in terms of validity and fairness to all groups of applicants (Wikström & Wikström 2017;Linn, 1990Linn, , 2001.…”

The impact of honors education on students’ academic and innovative achievements: a longitudinal study in China (2011–2021)

“…Jansen and Suhre (2015) chose to collect annual survey data on student motivation, perceptions of the instructional environment, participation in courses, and enrollment in course scores as indicators of the characteristics of the graduate experience. Among these predictors, we focus on college entrance examination scores (known as "Gaokao" score), because the honors program was developed specifically for the most capable students, and in China, high school entrance exam scores are an important indicator of general academic ability and educational outcomes (Wang et al, 2022), which differs from the student selection in the Swedish admission to higher education system which is based on two fundamentally different performance measures (Wikström and Wikström, 2017). Educators primarily perceive and achieve assessment quality through traditional criteria (Schellekens et al, 2023).…”