A good ACT or SAT score currently factors into who will get into colleges, but research now finds that high school GPA is a more consistent predictor of who will complete college.

There’s long been an assumption that getting high standardized test scores on the ACT or SAT is the best way to predict college success.

The argument goes something like this: With so much variety in high school quality and conditions, grade inflation, and other factors, we can’t rely on GPA as a signal of a student’s promise. It could too easily be inflated. Therefore, we must rely on standardized tests, which are the same for everyone, as the best predictor of college success.

It’s true that tests like the SAT and the ACT are standardized, which makes comparing students easier. In fact, they were developed in the first part of the twentieth century as a way to measure intelligence and the assumed preparedness for college-level work. However, new research by Elaine M. Allensworth and Kallie Clark, both of the University of Chicago, challenges this assumption.

Allensworth and Clark’s research reveals that a student’s high school GPA is 5X stronger than their ACT score at predicting college graduation and this predictive power of GPA is consistent across high schools.

They explain that GPAs are based on effort over a long period of time, in different types of classes, demanding different types of academic skills and expectations. In contrast, standardized tests measure a narrow range of skills in very specific conditions.

The take away:

While getting strong standardized test scores may get you into college, a good GPA will enable you to stay there. Working on both is essential to making your college goals a reality.

Click on this link to read the press release

https://www.aera.net/Newsroom/Research-Finds-that-High-School-GPAs-Are-Stronger-Predictors-of-College-Graduation-than-ACT-Scores