Relationship of Race, Academic and Nonacademic Information in Predicting the First-Year Success of Selected Admissions First-Year Students

Abstract

This study examines the validity of selected traditional academic background information and the Bryson Instrument for Noncognitive Assessment (BINA) in predicting the first-year grades of Black and White first-year students enrolled in a selected admissions program sponsored by a predominantly White Midwestern university. In this setting the Bryson Instrument for Noncognitive Assessment (BINA) accounted for an additional 2% of the variance when used in conjunction with traditional academic predictors.This tudy lso found the traditional predictors of success in college, specifically first-year GPA, unctioned differently between Black and White students. High school GPA was found to be the best predictor in a stepwise regression analysis of first-year GPA for Black students accounting for 8% of the variance, whereas for White students a separate stepwise regression found the best predictor was high school rank, accounting for nearly 7% of the variance of first-year GPA. The predictors eacting differently as a function of race raises some concerns as to how admissions committees should use these benchmark predictors. Should hey continue to use a single formula for determination of entry into a university, or should they seek to use a variety of methods which can be tailored to meet the needs of individual students?The study found using different combinations of traditional and nontraditional variables an increase the ability to predict successfully the first-year GPA of a selected group of racially diverse special admit first-year students. Additionally, racial background influenced the traditional and nontraditional variables to redict the students' first-year grade point averages successfully.