Research‐Informed Policy Change: A Retrospective on Engineering Admissions

Abstract

Background Few studies have investigated how engineering education admission policies contribute to the underrepresentation of specific groups. Transforming these policies may significantly affect who becomes an engineer. This article reports the outcome of using research results to inform change in admission policy at a Midwestern public university.Purpose There were three research questions: Is there statistically significant evidence of admission decision gender bias for engineering applicants? Do affective and cognitive factors predictive of engineering student success differ between men and women? Can a difference in the resulting admitted class be confirmed when such factors inform admission policy?Design/Method Admissions records were examined for differences in cognitive metrics between men and women. Student records were analyzed before and after the policy change. Neural network modeling of student records predicted the cognitive and affective measures most important for success in retention and graduation.Results Statistical analysis indicated a gender bias in the admission process results, which was traced back to the policy. Success factor modeling suggested a different set of criteria could mitigate this bias. After admission criteria were changed, statistical analysis confirmed the gender bias against women was mitigated. ConclusionsThe application of research and the change process described shows the important role of research in motivating and informing policy change. This work highlights the contribution of institutional bias in admission policy to the underrepresentation of groups in engineering education, especially if admission is limited to a minimum standardized math test score. OverviewOne of the early steps a student makes along the pathway toward becoming an engineer is applying and being admitted to an accredited institution. While an abundance of literature describes the virtues of precollege and recruiting programs and their potential effect on increasing the number of applications to engineering schools, little to no research informs institutional policy on important factors to consider in the engineering admissions process. This article describes a research-to-practice effort at a U.S. Midwestern public university which began by studying the results of admission practices and ended by changing admissions policy. The genesis of this Journal of Engineering EducationV C 2014 ASEE. effort was when the authors identified that the number of engineering applications from women increased by 46% over a five-year time period while the number of women admitted during that same time period increased by only 23%. This disparity between application and admissions gains led to an investigation of the university's engineering admissions process and ultimately policy. When a gender bias was confirmed by statistical analysis, the authors used research-based success modeling to identify key admission factors that could produce a different result from the university's engineering admission policy. Whi...

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