Rebecca Zwick, PhD- Educational Testing Service

Using Quantitative Techniques to Promote Diversity in Admissions (45 minutes) LEARNING OBJECTIVES: 1. Describe constrained optimization allows the incorporation of both academic requirements and diversity goals. 2.Highlight the differences between admission with demographic constraints and traditional admission practices. 3. Engage in discussion about how constrained optimization differs from other methods of college admissions processes to increase campus diversity. ABSTRACT: This is an intermediate presentation. Dr. Zwick's recent research has involved the use of constrained optimization, an operations research technique, to increase the diversity of admitted classes. Constrained optimization allows the incorporation of both academic requirements and diversity goals. The incoming class’s academic performance (say, the average GPA or test score) is maximized while class composition requirements are imposed. For example, in one college admissions study, they required that a composite of high school GPA and admissions test score be maximized, provided that a quarter of the admitted class be from a low-income neighborhood. They also applied this method to historical data on applicants to graduate programs, maximizing a composite of GRE scores and undergraduate GPA, while requiring certain percentages of admitted students be from under-represented groups. This technique has been successful in “admitting” diverse classes that perform well academically. Classes admitted with demographic constraints often demonstrate academic performance that is superior to classes admitted in practice. BIOGRAPHY: Rebecca Zwick retired as a Distinguished Presidential Appointee at Education Testing Service. She had served in this role for 25 years. Her recent research at ETS focused on test validity and fairness and on ways to improve score reporting. Zwick completed a National Science Foundation project in which her research team developed and evaluated instructional materials to help educators to better interpret standardized test results. She also explored the effect of high school quality on the predictive validity of SAT scores and high school grade-point average. Zwick served on technical advisory committees for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Programme in International Student Assessment (PISA), and the SAT. After completing multiple years of research on the college admissions process she authored her 2017 book, Who Gets In? Strategies for Fair and Effective College Admissions. Zwick is the past President of the National Council on Measurement in Education. She taught measurement, statistics, and educational testing as a professor from 1996-2010 at the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her career in education actually began in the 1970s, when she worked in teaching and counseling positions with children, adolescents, and adults. These experiences help to broaden her perspective on the role of tests and measurement. USER RATINGS: 4.1 out of 5 STARS (15) American Psychological Association (APA) Buros Center for Testing is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Buros Center for Testing maintains responsibility for this program and its content. National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) Buros Center for Testing is approved by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists.Buros Center for Testing maintains responsibility for this program and its content. (Provider #1113) New York State Education Department (NYSED) Buros Center for Testing, University of Nebraska-Lincoln is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0187. There is no known commercial support for this program.