Memorandum
TO: Faculty Senate
FROM: Admissions and Academic Standards Council
  • A.J. Hill
  • T. Lesher
  • G. Martin
  • K. Martus
  • S. Nalle
  • M. Spatz
    DATE:
    RE: Raising Admission and Academic Standards at William Paterson College
    In 1995, the faculty Senate charged the Admissions and Academic Standards Council to:
    Look into and recommend specifically how to elevate admissions and academic standards.
    Determine the impact on admission standards by raising the SAT’s as proposed by the Board of Trustees.
    The Council searched the higher education literature, met with and exchanged information with the Dean of Enrollment Management, and held numerous discussions regarding raising of admissions and academic standards. The goals of our recommendations are to improve the public perception of WPC, to improve student retention by attracting more academically prepared students and to better serve the students by providing them with a quality education. After much deliberation, the Council recommends that William Paterson College (WPC) initiate a community-wide effort to:
    Establish a reputation for WPC as an institution dedicated to providing a quality education by increasing the mean SAT scores for regular admit entering freshmen to 1000 (unrecentered) or 1100 (recentered) over the next five years.
    Curtail the use of the Academic Index (AI) as the major criterion for admission for regular admit students and incorporate additional criteria that are more meaningful predictors of success in college.
    Establish a Retention Committee.
    Examine classroom and institutional standards including an exploration of possible grade inflation.
    REVIEW OF EXISTING ADMISSION POLICIES
    Students are accepted to WPC in four categories: 
       

Regular Admit

-AI = 206 or more (admissions staff      factor in    GPA, high school standing,   and  strength of      high school)





EOF

- AI = 205 or below

- Must be NJ resident

- Must be interviewed

- Economically and academically                           disadvantaged

- Limit: 10% minimum (state mandated)





Sponsor (special admit)

- AI = 205 or below

- Do not meet regular admit requirements

- Students with special talents(music,    art,            athletics)

- Limit: 10% maximum (state mandated -

  may be flexible under autonomy).

- Must be interviewed

- Must sign a contract



International



- TOEFL = 550

- WES (World Education Service)                     confirmation of high school diploma

- Emigration procedures

- Evidence of financial support for the    first year
    Currently, all full time, first time, regular admit students must have and AI of 206 or more with GPA, high school standing and the strength of the high school factored in by admissions staff. The AI is computed according to the following formula:
    Academic Index = 10% of combined SAT scores + high school rank (Converted)*
    *Value assigned to class rank by the DHE.
    The following statistics for full -time, first-time, regular admit students were compile by the Office of Planning and Research and published in Freshman Facts & Figures: 
    
CHARACTERISTICS                 YEAR                                    

        1990    1991    1992    1993    1994    1995    1996    

                                                                

MEAN COMBINED SAT       912     920     918     916     936     931     1033*   

                                                                

MEAN HS % RANK  67      68      66      66      65      66      65      

                                                                

ACADEMIC INDEX  199     200     201     201     201     201     213
    *Recentered. In 1996, the Educational testing Service “Recentered” its scoring for the SAT’s; that is, it adapted its scoring system around a new, and lower, mean, which had the effect of raising scores in general. This 1033 is equivalent to approximately 930 on the old scale.
    RECOMMENDATIONS
    As William Paterson College seeks university status , the Council believes that it is essential to establish a reputation for WPC as an institution dedicated to providing a quality education. One way to do so is to set as a goal a mean SAT score of 1100 (recentered) for regular admit entering freshmen buy the year 2003. The Council acknowledges that numerous studies reported in the higher education literature find little or no correlation between SAT scores and retention. However, the public perception of the quality of an institution is directly related to the mean SAT scores reported in the various college handbooks and computer resources. It is common practice for high school students exploring colleges to use SAT scores as a criterion in computer programs when seeking prospective schools. High school students and the public in general have low expectations of schools with low SAT scores.
    A 1991 survey of 541 institutions reported that “admissions policies can be logically related to retention. Poor academic progress is an important factor in students’ decisions to leave; thus institutions that use their admissions standards to help assure academic success might be expected to have higher retention rates” (Chaney, 1991 p.9). The survey, sponsored by the Planning and Evaluation Service, Office of the Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Education was designed to provide national data on retention from a representative sample of higher education institutions. For purposes of the study, retention was defined as the percentage of full-time, first-time freshmen who ultimately graduate from the same institution, regardless of the time period.
    With the goal of improving retention, the council recommends that WPC curtail the use of the AI as the major criterion for admission for regular admit students. The major component in the calculation of the AI is class rank. In the higher education literature, class rank is reported to not be a meaningful predictor of success in college (Young, 1992). Additionally, the AI does not accommodate differences in the quality of the high schools and many high schools no longer report class rank.
    It is our recommendation that WPC:
    1. Curtail the use of the Academic Index as the major criterion for regular admit students and incorporate additional criteria that are better predictors of success in college. Possibilities include: recalculate the high school GPA to only include academic courses; require more high school courses; require College Board achievement tests; etc.

    Young reported that the computed measure of average academic rigor of a student’s high school program from high school transcripts was superior to SAT scores and class rank in predicting college grade point average (Young, 1992).

    The 1987 GPA Predictor Study conducted by the WPC Office of Research and Evaluation concluded that:

    For this sample, the high school GPA had greater predictive power than any of the other criteria.

    High school performance, both GPA and rank, was clearly a better predictor of WPC GPA than SAT scores. This finding is supported by studies previously carried out by Kroeckel and Podell and is also typical of results from other colleges.

    The California State University system’s Eligibility Index (EI) includes HSGPA and SAT. They report that high school GPA for all gender and ethnic groups is the most important contributor to the prediction of freshman GPA (Cowan, 1991).

    2. Revise the application form to provide more information about the applicant. Possibilities include: require an essay; and/or administer a questionnaire to assess non-cognitive predictors such as the one designed by Professor William E. Sedlack at the University of Maryland. WPC’s Sponsored Student Program has been using its own questionnaire which similarly screens students. For the Sponsored Students, these indicators have proven more valid than SAT scores. Based upon Sedlack’s findings, it would appear that assessing these predictors through some phase of the admissions process for all students could be very helpful.

    3. Establish a Retention Committee which will recommend academic and institutional programs to improve retention.

    4. Continue to develop strategies for recruitment of high school students which include academic departments and student services areas.

    5. Assess WPC’s academic and institutional standards and environment. It is the perception of the Council that the admissions standards of an institution cannot be separated from its general academic and institutional standards. Higher admission standards must be accompanied by higher academic and institutional standards. Areas to assess include:

    Grade inflation

    Pass/Fail policy

    Testing and performance assessment policies in the classroom

    Student support services - institutional programs that are reported in the literature to have an impact on retention are: help with student finances, help with academic difficulties, and testing/performance assessment (Chaney, 1991).

    EXPERIENCE OF OTHER INSTITUTIONS

    Our sister institution, The College of New Jersey, increased its admissions standards by increasing its SAT scores and has attracted high quality students. This was done in conjunction with other measures such as allocating a large fund for scholarships, implementing small class size, sponsoring black-tie affairs for high achieving students., etc. We recognize that these measures are costly and may not apply to WPC but we cite them as an example of a college-wide effort to attain a goal.

    In Oklahoma, both comprehensive and regional institutions have instituted a planned annual increase in admission standards beginning in 1990. The admissions standards include ACT scores, high school GPA and class rank. The results of a preliminary study conducted after two years of the program are reported in ERIC Document ED365368. Among the findings are:

    Total enrollment increased.

    First-time-entering freshman enrollment increased.

    Student success as evidenced by increased student retention during the six-year study is being achieved.

    Minority student freshman enrollment is not being negatively impacted by the increased admission standards. In fact, comparing the fall 1992 data to the 1990 census information, blacks, native Americans, and Asians were better represented in the public colleges and universities than they were in the state population.

    CONCLUSIONS

    The Committee recognizes the complexity of college admission standards and the social and institutional issues that admission officers must address. Increasing standards cannot be solely the responsibility of the Admissions Office but must be an institution-wide effort.

    It is the expectation of the Council that, initially, WPC will experience a decline in enrollment. However, as the public image of the institution improves, better academically prepared students will be attracted to WPC. The higher education literature reports that retention improves when institutions increase their admission standards. As more students are retained, enrollment will increase as has been the experience of The College of New Jersey and in Oklahoma. Additionally, as WPC expects more of its students, students will match those expectations as has been the experience in the School of Education. When the minimum GPA was raised to 2.5, the quality of education majors improved.

    Finally, the admission standards of an institution cannot be separated from its academic and institutional standards. An increase in admission standards must be accompanied by increased classroom and institutional standards .

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