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Is the Inclusion of First-Year Assessment in the Calculation of GPA Deleterious to Students from a Widening Participation Background?

Is the Inclusion of First-Year Assessment in the Calculation of GPA Deleterious to Students from a Widening Participation Background?

Authors :
Konstantinidis-Pereira, Alicja
Scott, Ian
Source :
Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education. 2021 25(1):24-33.
Publication Year :
2021

Abstract

The use of grade point average (GPA) as a means to summarise learning is a novel practice in the UK. The aim of this study was to determine if the inclusion of assessment results from student's first-year of study in the calculation of GPA is deleterious to students from a widening participation (WP) background. Assessment marks of full-time undergraduate students were investigated using statistical modelling. The inclusion of the assessment outcomes from the first-year of studies in the calculation of GPA was significantly beneficial to Black, Asian and minority ethnic and mature students on their overall GPA. It was also not disadvantageous to any group of WP students. Our analysis highlighted how the traditional UK degree classification system, as used by Oxford Brookes University, tends to magnify the presentation of the difference in learning achieved by different groups of students when compared to that shown by the GPA or raw marks.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1360-3108
Volume :
25
Issue :
1
Database :
ERIC
Journal :
Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
EJ1283466
Document Type :
Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1080/13603108.2020.1773563