Battling the GPA Bias: Selecting NSF-REU Participants for Transformative Research Experiences

Abstract:

Student grade point average (GPA) is one of the most common metrics used to select REU participants, with >85% of NSF-funded research participants nationally having an average GPA at or above 3.0 (Russell, 2004). Yet, as efforts are made to expand and diversify the pool of undergraduates participating in research experiences, privileging candidates with GPAs above 3.0 may exclude promising STEM students who can most benefit from a research experience, including community college students and recent transfer students from community colleges. Myriad factors that impinge on student GPAs are salient in the literature, including (1) early academic failure related to pre-college under-preparation (Feldman, 1993); (2) transfer shock (Molinaro, 2014; Diaz, 1992); (3) employment (DeSimone, 2008); (4) limited social support for academic pursuits (Cheng, Ickes, & Verhofstadt, 2012); (5) food insecurity (Maroto, 2013); and inadequate advising (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). A discussion of these factors with examples from student transcripts and an overview of a scoring rubric that minimizes GPA bias and can assist PIs with an alternate approach to participant selection will be included in this session.