Effects of Improving the Reliability of the GPA on Prediction Generally and on Comparative Predictions for Gender and Race Particularly

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Abstract
The reliability of a method of adjusting grade point averages for differences in departmental grading standards was examined, as were the effects of such adjustments on the predictive validity of high school grades, SAT scores, and achievement test scores. The index of differential grading standards for all on‐time graduates of the Dartmouth College class of 1986 was quite reliable, and its use in adjusting grade averages increased predictive validity, reduced its erosion over years, reduced the apparent underprediction of women, and improved predictions for blacks. Differential group enrollment in courses in the science division seems to account for much of the effect of adjustment on grades. Improvement in the reliability of the criterial grade averages also was shown to have similar effects on gender and race prediction in another data set