An Empirical Investigation of the Impact of GPA on Perceived Improvement of Higher Order Cognitive Skills

Colleges of Business have experienced high growth rates in the past decade and many colleges are imposing minimum grade point average (GPA) requirements for students entering and remaining in the College. A primary reason for this requirement, presumably, is that students with a high GPA are of a high caliber and are more inclined than those with a low GPA to demonstrate higher-order cognitive skills. However, it is not clear whether the link is valid. This study hypothesizes that, compared to students with a lower GPA, students with a high GPA, and who are taught in the same way, will have a greater tendency to perceive improved higher-order cognitive skills. We conducted an experiment in which use of multimedia instructional materials was the common method of instruction to groups of students with high GPA and low GPA at two large universities. We obtained the students’ perceptions on improved higher-order cognitive skills from their answers to questions on a survey. A regression analysis of the data revealed that the relationship between the GPA and perceived higher-order cognitive skills improvement was highly significant (p = 0.001). This leads to several conclusions and recommendations for the College of Business faculty members and administration.