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IU researchers find merit index an effective tool to increase college diversity
Oct. 25, 1999
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The legal controversy over the use of affirmative action and racial preference in college admission processes has prompted Indiana University researchers to examine an additional way to measure merit.
The Indiana Education Policy Center, part of the IU School of Education, has issued a policy bulletin titled "Merit-Aware Admissions in Public Universities: Increasing Diversity." Center researchers led by director Edward St. John, a professor in the School of Education's Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, report that the merit index is an effective tool to increase diversity on college campuses without explicitly taking into consideration race and ethnicity.
The merit index, originally proposed by William Goggin, senior economist for the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance in Washington, D.C., is developed by subtracting the average Scholastic Aptitude Test score for a student's high school from his or her individual score. Students from low-scoring high schools who exhibit positive merit indexes (higher SAT scores than their high school average) would be given special consideration in the admissions process, as well as those who enter the applicant pool on the traditional basis of absolute SAT score.
The admissions process in most colleges and universities is multi-stage, St. John said. In the first stage, a set of criteria is used to screen applications to create a "screened-applicant pool." Goggin suggests using the merit index along with traditional factors to select students for special consideration, creating a more diverse applicant pool.
When St. John and his colleagues tested Goggin's formula, they found the merit index a useful tool to increase diversity in the screening process. Two case studies were considered. In both cases, the percentages and numbers of African American students who would have been chosen for full admission review more than doubled compared with using tests alone.
"These cases illustrate that schools can use a merit index constructed from standardized tests, as well as high school rank, to develop approaches to admissions that expand diversity," St. John said.
IU officials agreed that these results have important implications for how colleges and universities can diversify their future student populations.
"These findings shed light on an important public policy issue that is confronting colleges and universities across the country," said Kenneth R.R. Gros Louis, IU vice president for academic affairs and chancellor of the Bloomington campus. "The work of Professor St. John and his colleagues at the Indiana Education Policy Center will help college administrators, faculty and public policymakers think through the relationship between college admission standards and questions of equity and access in higher education."
Donald Warren, university dean of the IU School of Education, said, "This project could open new approaches to the goal of linking high student quality and diversity in the admissions process. The policy implications are important and exciting."
Established in July 1990, the Indiana Education Policy Center provides nonpartisan information and research on education issues to Indiana policymakers and other education stakeholders to improve education. Located in the IU School of Education, the center is funded by the Lilly Endowment Inc. and Indiana University.
For a copy of "Merit-Aware Admissions in Public Universities: Increasing Diversity," contact the Indiana Education Policy Center at 812-855-1240, estjohn@indiana.edu
(Ceci Jones, School of Education, 812-856-8031, ccjones@indiana.edu)