Institutional Selectivity and Good Practices in Undergraduate Education: How Strong is the Link?

http://cpr.iub.edu/uploads/Pascarealla%20(2005)%20Institutional%20Selectivity%20and%20Good%20Practices.pdf

Ernest T. Pascarella

Ty Cruce

Paul D. Umbach

Gregory C. Wolniak

George D. Kuh

Robert M. Carini

John C. Hayek

Robert M. Gonyea

Chun-Mei Zhao

Ernest T. Pascarella is the Mary Louise Petersen Professor of Higher Education and

Co-Director of the Center for Research on Undergraduate Education at the University

of Iowa. Ty Cruce is a research analyst at the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University–Bloomington. Paul D. Umbach is Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the University of Iowa. Gregory C. Wolniak, PhD. University of Iowa, is a senior research and policy analyst at the Human Capital Research Corporation in

Evanston, IL. George D. Kuh is Chancellor’s Professor and Director of the Center for

Postsecondary Research at Indiana University–Bloomington. Robert M Carini is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Louisville. John C. Hayek is Associate

Vice President for Planning and Performance at the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary

Education. Robert M Gonyea is Associate Director of the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University–Bloomington. Chun-Mei Zhao is a research scholar at The

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

This research was supported by The Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash

College, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and Grant #R117G10037 from the U.S. Department

of Education.

The Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 77, No. 2 (March/April 2006)

Copyright © 2006 by The Ohio State University

The academic “selectivity” of a college or university’s undergraduate student body has been perhaps the most common

single criterion by which the public, as well as many scholars, make inferences about the “quality” of the undergraduate education one receives

(e.g., Bowen & Bok, 1998; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991; Rumberger &

Thomas, 1993; Thomas, 2003). Although there are several different

ways of operationally defining institutional selectivity, the procedure

with the greatest generalizability across institutions (and perhaps the

easiest to understand) is the average or median score of entering or enrolled students on standardized tests such as the ACT, the SAT, or their

equivalent (e.g., Bowen & Bok, 1998; Dale & Krueger, 1999; Flowers,

Osterlind, Pascarella, & Pierson, 2001; Rumberger & Thomas, 1993).

Institutional Selectivity and Good

Practices in Undergraduate Education:

How Strong is the Link?

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