Re: grades, assessments, etc.

["RAUBER, JOEL" <JOEL_RAUBER@SDSTATE.EDU>]

> I know quite a number of slightly-eccentric people whom the
> teachers labelled as "learning disabled" but who eventually
> grew up to be very successful responsible citizens (and now
> get paid about four times what those teachers are getting paid).

I don't see how this argues against GPA's.  I'd expect that a genuinely
"learning disabled" person would have a lower GPA on average.  By "genuinely
Learning Disabled" I mean disabled with respect to learning in standard
educational environments; of course since a GPA is a measure of learning (in
part) in a standard educational environment I wouldn't expect it to do
otherwise.

Yes, in a non-grade inflated environment, this person might have a 2.0
average instead of a 3.1 GPA.
That would tell you with some probability that either you are dealing with
an individual like the oneabove (assuming you have some other information,
like a honest letter of recommendation from the student's teachers telling
you, yea this person didn't follow the rules and frequently thought-out- of
the box in ways that lowered there grade, or they were so interested in
persuing their own projects in the lab that the didn't do the requirements
for courses to get them A's; but had a spark of genious and/or enthusiasm)
You'd probably hire them in a moment.

But it also tells you that you'd better have that additional information.
As its more likely that you are dealing with someone of mundane abilities
etc.  Maybe you want to hire some people like that (and there are good
reasons to do so).  But at least you have some idea of what to expect.

Admittedly an imperfect idea but some idea.

While I'm arguing that a GPA has meaning and value, one shouldn't expect it
to have more meaning than it does.  That is don't read more into it than it
has.

BTW, for Larry W., our experience with 3M has been particularly bad with
respect to their putting too much importance on the GPA in the hiring
process.  We have had excellent candidates who have missed rather arbitrary
high GPA cut-offs by less than a tenth of point, but very superior letters
of recommendation not get considered.

Joel R.