Test-optional admissions policies and student success metrics

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between test-optional undergraduate admissions policies and two common student success metrics: the retention rate for first-year students and the 6-year graduation rate for bachelor’s students. Using a difference-in-differences analytic approach designed to account for the staggered nature of policy adoption, I find that test-optional policies adopted prior to the COVID-19 pandemic were not associated with statistically significant changes in institution-level retention and graduation rates overall. However, subgroup analyses by institutional selectivity indicate that test-optional policy enactment was associated with a 2 percentage point increase in graduation rates for men, women, and White students at institutions with more competitive admissions but a 2 percentage point decrease in graduation rates for White students at institutions with less competitive admissions.