Arp Presentation Regarding Gre Concerns

March 30, 2008

Action Research Project Proposal Outside Presentation Overcoming Obstacles such as Idiomatic Barriers in Respect to the GRE, a Standardized Test

C. Barnes Gallagher

Introduction • • • •

Overview of GRE Challenge Problem Description Problem Documentation Setting: Population/group selected for the study

Introduction (continued) • Solution Strategy, Results • Recommendations for change • Recommendations for future researchers • Solicitation of audience feedback

Overview of GRE Challenge Prosperous Academic Goals, Achievements, Economy

Responsive Non-Profit Educational Testing Service (ETS)

Overcoming Socioeconomic dilemmas

Focusing on Professional Workforces

Adapting, Advancing Technology

Responding to idiomatic, rational concerns

Viable, Communicative University System

Overview • 1. Problem Description

– Many graduating and Graduate University students avoid standardized tests such as the GRE because they fear poor scores that they known may reflect controversial diverse dialects and biases which fluctuate according to cultural and geographical areas.

•

The problem is illustrated through verbal skills that have decreased by at least 50 points in 30 years, as well as a mere 2% of potential examinees actually taking the exam. • Value for the GRE is solely linked to acquired scores rather than essential skills that the exam progressively instills and promotes (Bridgeman, Cline, & Hessinger, 2003, p. i).

Objective • Students will learn to value the exam as a learning tool, and to correspond with ETS regarding their concerns.

Results • The intervention strategy will increase verbal scores to 500-550, at least 50 points greater than that which is the median score, and an increased number of examinees (500,000-1,000,000).

2. Problem documentation •

By the year 2007, 15.34 million undergraduate University seniors and 2.2 million graduate students had the opportunity to contribute to educational standards and strengthen their academic skills by taking the Graduate Record Exam which is offered by the New Jersey-based Educational Testing Services (ETS) (Bridgeman, Cline, & Hessinger, 2003, p. i)

•

According to the Ethics Resource Center, approximately 300,000 take the GRE each year (Pendell-Jones, 2003, para. 1); this means that only ~ 2.31% of all undergraduate and graduate students actually take the exam each year.

Key Assumptions Students and teachers are aware of dialectic, idiomatic, demographic variations, and biases inherent in an evolving language and increasing dependency on tools provided by a technological revolution. •

Most international students do not receive good scores on the verbal section (Mupinga & Mupinga, 2005, p. 402). •

Assessors of the exam express awareness of the exam’s performance biases. •

Key Assumptions (continued) • Computerized testing has become the norm. • Of the 300,000 students who take the GRE each year, 41,000 are from China (Pendell-Jones, 2003, para. 1), and ~90% of Chinese test-takers did not feel that purchasing the answer notes from other students could constitute cheating (Pendell-Jones, 2003, para. 3). • 75% of all students admit to cheating; 14% declare that cheating is fair (Pendell-Jones, 2003, para. 11).

Setting: population/group selected for the study • According to the The National Data Book of The 2008 Statistical Abstract, U.S. Census Bureau, the projection for 2008 is 13,677,000 public University school students and 4,587,000 private college school students (about 18 million altogether): http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/tables/08s0207.pdf . • Our control group (3000 students) and action group (3000 students) are composed of volunteer pupils who are college students.

Solution strategy or strategies • Attention must be directed to cultural pluralism and current dialectic, cultural issues of White and Asian-American families, and Black and Hispanic families who, despite their very low incomes, have addressed their concerns to agencies provided by ETS. The solution strategy includes attention that must also be directed to developing students who represent “40 % of the children from Alaska, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Mississippi” who live in impoverished conditions (Barton, Coley, & Educational Testing Service, 2007, p. 3).

Verbal Scores: Action and Control Groups, Pre- and Post-Tests Pre-Tests (3000 Examinees) Control Group

Action Group

Post-Tests (3000 Examinees) Control Group

Action Group

Scores

%

#

%

#

%

#

%

#

800

0

0

1

30

1

30

3

90

700-799

1

30

1

30

1

30

3

90

600-699

18

540

19

570

19

570

40

1200

500-599

40

1200

33

990

41

1230

42

1260

400-499

20

600

22

660

19

570

10

300

300-399

16

480

18

540

15

450

1

30

200-299

5

150

6

180

4

120

1

30

Initial Problem Analysis

Final Analysis —Score Improvement

Key Findings / Results 1 100 90 80 70 60 Action Control

50 40 30 20 10 0

Pretest I

Pretest II

Posttest I Posttest II

Key Findings / Results 2

Control

Control

Action

Action

Key Findings / Results 3 Condition

Description

Action Group

Control Group

1

Corresponding with ETS

True

True

2

Daily Review of Vocabulary, Etymology, Quantitative Reasoning, Analytical Writing

True

False

3

Expressed Value through Survey Results for the GRE, a standardized exam, as a learning tool.

True

False

Recommendations for change • The change is compelled by ETS associates who project understanding for cultural pluralism and a universally comprehensible idiom and jargon as per the exam’s goals that must be extended to international students who otherwise may need to take the TOEFL first and be unable to achieve good scores on the exam’s verbal section (Mupinga & Mupinga, 2005, p. 402). • The change includes the provision of study guides that are offered free through the ETS online site.

Recommendations for future researchers • Recommendations include greater provision of the new Internet-Based Testing (IBT) platform that is also used for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), as an improved learning intervention. • Recommendations include fair access by all potential examinees to the effective intervention that includes the beta test offered through the IBT platform which enables examinees to foresee topics that the final certified exam will cover. • Recommendations must refer to the security problems arising due to repeated use of the same examination problems and that which constitutes “cheating”.

Questions & Discussion

References •

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•

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Barton, P. E., Coley, R. J., & Educational Testing Service (2007, September). The family: America's smallest school [Policy information report]. Retrieved February 28, 2008, from http://www.ets.org/research/pic Bridgeman, B., Cline, F., & Hessinger, J. (2003, May). GRE research: Effect of extra time on GRE quantitative and verbal scores. Retrieved February 29, 2008, from http://www.ets.org/gre Mupinga, E. E., & Mupinga, D. M. (2005, June). Perceptions of international students toward Graduate Record Examination. College Student Journal, 39, p. 402. Retrieved August 13, 2007, from http://journals825.home.mindspring.com/csj/html Pendell-Jones, A. (2003). Retrieved August 14, 2007, from http://www.ethics.org/erc-publications/staff-articles.asp?aid=765