Sedlacek, W. E. (1996). An empirical method of determining nontraditional group status. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 28, 200-210.
Abstract
A procedure employing two measures, the Situational Attitude Scale and the Noncognitive Questionnaire, is described. If a group experiences prejudice and shows ability through noncognitive variables, it is considered nontraditional.
Multicultural assessments have received increased emphasis recently (Prediger, 1993). A common problem faced by assessment specialists, counseling and personnel professionals, and policy administrators is defining who should be considered in our diversity programs. Common conceptions or terms include racial designations (e.g., African-American, Asian), more socio-political terms (e.g., people of color, third world people), or specific groupings such as visible racial ethnic groups (VREGS) (Helms, 1992). Some determinations are made by numerical frequency in a given field. For example, the Association of American Medical Colleges bases "minority status" on whether a group is underrepresented in medicine. Still others consider such groups as women, (Russo, Olmedo, Stapp and Fulcher, (1981), gays, lesbians and bisexuals , (Washington, 1993) or athletes (Engstrom & Sedlacek, 1991) under the "diversity" umbrella. However, Sue, Arredondo and McDavis (1992) express concern that terms can be defined so broadly that one can avoid dealing with what they feel are the four major groups whose problems need addressing: African-Americans, American Indians, Asian-Americans, and Hispanics/Latinos.
Westbrook and Sedlacek (1991) studied the labels used to describe what they called "nontraditional students" in the Education Index over forty years. Terms have varied from a focus on acculturation in the 1950's to disadvantaged in the 1960's to cross-cultural in the 1970's to multicultural in the 1980's. Diversity may be the most common term for the 1990's. While these terms may suggest different approaches to the groups discussed, operationally we may still be discussing the same people; those with cultural experiences different than those of White middle class males of European descent; those with less power to control their lives; and those who experience discrimination in the United States. But does it make sense to include such variables as gender, sexual orientation, or status as an athlete as aspects of cultural experience?
Sedlacek (in press), while feeling that labels and terminology have important symbolic and conceptual value, noted that they may not help in making decisions in research, programs or practice. He has proposed a two-step measurement approach to defining what he calls "nontraditional" persons who should be included in diversity programs. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate and discuss the methodology employed in this process.
The Measurement of Prejudice
The first step in assessing whether a given group is to be considered "nontraditional" is whether they experience prejudice. Prejudice here is defined as some negative attributions or consequences of being a member of a certain group. Measuring the degree of prejudice against a group has been difficult because of the tendency many people have to mask or avoid expressing such feelings because of social acceptability. In response to this measurement problem, Sedlacek and Brooks (1970) developed the Situational Attitude Scale (SAS). The SAS employs experimental and control forms and provides a situational context to make the psychological withdrawal from the stimulus more difficult. The SAS methodology has been shown to have evidence of reliability and validity in assessing attitudes toward racial and ethnic groups such as Blacks (Balenger, Hoffman, and Sedlacek, 1992), Hispanics (White and Sedlacek, 1987), Jews (Gerson and Sedlacek, 1992), and Arabs (Sergent, Woods and Sedlacek, 1992). The SAS has also been employed in measuring attitudes toward persons with disabilities (McQuilkin, Freitag and Harris, 1990); older persons (Schwalb, Sedlacek and Jones, 1990); Mormons (Gilman, 1983); women (Minatoya and Sedlacek, 1983); children (Knight, Seefeldt and Sedlacek, 1993); commuting students (Wilkshire, 1989); gays, lesbians, and bisexuals (Washington, 1993); athletes (Engstrom and Sedlacek, 1991); and African-American clients (Stovall, 1989).
This list is not intended to be exhaustive, but only illustrative of some of the groups to which the SAS has been applied. Also, there is no assumption that there is prejudice against a given group or that it is equally strong or socially relevant for all groups. The SAS methodology can be used to determine the presence or absence of prejudice and the degree to which it is present. The test-retest and coefficient alpha reliability estimates are in the .70 to .89 range.
The first step is to develop a set of situations that may generate prejudice toward a given group from another group. These can be obtained from publications (popular or professional), or from focus groups, brainstorming sessions or pilot studies. For example, research literature and popular press reports indicated that if we wish to assess attitudes of Whites toward African-Americans, living in close proximity may evoke prejudice among some Whites. So several situations dealing with roommates, and people living in one's neighborhood were pilot tested prior to inclusion in a final instrument.
A useful technique is a brainstorming session involving representatives of the group to which the scale will be administered where stereotypes and situations which might engender prejudice are discussed. By asking for examples they might have seen in others, one can reduce the reluctance to discuss one's own feelings. It is important to note that situations should be relevant to the group being assessed and expressed in their terminology.
For example, in a discussion with able-bodied persons, the word "handicapped" was commonly employed when discussing persons with physical disabilities, so that stimulus term was employed, since the point is to try to elicit a prejudiced response from that group, not to be politically correct, or to use terms that might be employed by another group. Table 1 shows the situations developed in a form of the SAS designed to assess attitudes toward "Arabs". The term Arab does not have a precise meaning (Patai, 1973) but is used routinely to express negative attitudes by "non-Arabs".
Constructing Multiple SAS Forms
After the situations have been developed, two or more forms of the SAS version are created. One form (A) is neutral and makes no mention of a particular group in the situation. A second form (B) includes the stimulus term of interest; in Table 1, "Arab". Thus the only difference between the forms is that term, and hence any mean difference noted in responses to the two forms randomly assigned to a group must be due to the stimulus term, using the logic of experimental and control conditions.
The SAS has been designed to elicit both overt and less conscious feelings and to control for socially desirable responses. The SAS has typically comprised 10 personal and social situations with some relevance to the particular form of prejudice being studied, followed by 10 bipolar semantic differential scales (Osgood, Suci, & Tannenbaum, 1957) for each situation. Participants are not aware that other forms exist or that comparisons are being made. Consequently, the validity of the SAS is determined by the mean response differences between the two or more forms (see Figure 1). Figure 1 shows examples of instructions to respondents, and semantic differential word scales for a form assessing attitudes toward Arabs.
Semantic differential items which are evaluative (as opposed to those showing power or movement) usually work best in eliciting reactions to the situations. Situation scores can be calculated, making sure to reflect the polarity of items so they are scored in the same direction. The homogeneity of the situations can be further analyzed using factor analysis or cluster analysis (Sedlacek and Brooks, 1972).
While it is possible to create more than two forms, it is important that the situations be relevant to expressing prejudice toward the two or more groups in the experimental forms. Situations that might elicit prejudice toward one group might not work with another group. For example, personal situations usually elicit the strongest negative actions toward Blacks from non-Blacks (Carter, White and Sedlacek, 1987), but more public situations tend to generate the most negative reactions to gays, lesbians and bisexuals (Washington, 1993).
However, in a study of attitudes toward persons with physical disabilities, three stimulus terms (neutral, blind, and wheelchair) showed differences with the same series of situations (Stovall and Sedlacek, 1983).
After relevant situations are created and semantic differential evaluative scales developed, experimental and control forms of the instrument are constructed. Forms are randomly assigned to participants, situation scores are calculated and differences among forms determined. A possible way to analyze form differences is with Multivariate Analyses of Variance (MANOVA) with form as an independent variable and situation scores ad dependent variables. Table 1 shows an example of form differences by situation on the SAS-Arab. Interactions of form by other variables (e.g., gender) are also possible.
Thus, the SAS methodology allows for flexibility of form development in that forms could be uniquely developed for particular circumstances. For example, if a given city were experiencing difficulties in certain situations between members of particular groups, the SAS methodology would allow for a quantification of those circumstances. This could not only help to determine who might be "nontraditional" in certain circumstances but what situations might be focused upon to reduce prejudice and help to solve some of the problems involved. Various forms of the SAS are available from the author at no cost.
One interpretation of how to improve our assessment measures is to hone and fine-tune them so they are equally valid for everyone. However, if different groups have different experiences and different ways of presenting their attributes and abilities, it is unlikely that we could develop a single measure, test item, etc. that could be equally valid for all. If we concentrate on results rather than intentions, we could conclude that it is important to do an equally good job of assessment for each group, not that we need to use the same instrument for everyone.
Standardized tests such as the ACT, SAT, or GRE were designed to predict first year grades at a time when most students were White, male and upper-middle class. The tests performed this function fairly well for these students throughout the years, and still do (Sedlacek, 1989). As colleges and universities have admitted more females, and students with a wider range of cultural, racial and socio-economic characteristics, standardized tests have not correlated as well with grades for these groups (Sedlacek, 1989).
Generally, these tests were not designed to correlate with grades beyond the first year, with retention in any year, or with graduation and success beyond college. They tend not to correlate well with these criteria for any group, including White, upper-middle class males (Sedlacek, 1989). In the case of students from racial and cultural minority groups, the standardized tests are less related to these criteria (Sedlacek, 1989).
Why don't standardized tests relate to measures of student success beyond the first year? Aside from not being designed to do so, Sternberg (1985, 1986) points out that such tests measure only one aspect of intelligence, analytic ability. He defines analytic ability as "one's capacity to interpret information in a well-defined and unchanging context." Sternberg feels standardized tests generally do not measure synthetic ability or systemic ability; the two other components of intelligence he identifies. Persons with synthetic ability are able to interpret information in changing contexts. They can easily shift from one perspective to another. They are creative, and are likely to be the best researchers or contributors to their fields. Persons with systemic intelligence know how to interpret and use the system or environment to their advantage. They are "street-wise."
If we examine a typical curriculum, many would agree that synthetic and systemic intelligence come into play more in the later years of most programs since upper-level courses tend to require students to write more, discuss more, and hopefully think more. Analytic skills, as defined by Sternberg, appear less useful by themselves beyond the first year.
The Noncognitive Questionnaire (NCQ) is designed to assess attributes that are not typically measured by other instruments and that may be common ways for persons with nontraditional experiences to show their abilities (Sedlacek, 1989). If the NCQ systematically correlates more with the success of members of a given group (e.g., Blacks) than it does for traditional White males, then the group meets the second criterion for inclusion as a nontraditional group.
The noncognitive variable system noted in Figure 2 appears to measure synthetic and systemic ability. Thus, the task for the counseling professional is to tap the client's full range of abilities by doing all the assessments necessary. Members of nontraditional groups tend to need synthetic and systemic abilities to survive more than people with more traditional experience. For instance, realistic self-appraisal appears to be a synthetic ability while handling racism shows a systemic ability. Equality, in counseling as in other areas, should be equality of outcome not process. If, to do our best job, we need to assess different ways of showing abilities for different people, let's do it.
The NCQ has been shown to have validity in assessing the performance of a variety of nontraditional groups including Blacks (Tracey and Sedlacek, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989; White and Sedlacek, 1986), Hispanics (Fuertes and Sedlacek, 1993), Asians (Fuertes, Sedlacek, and Liu, 1993), international students (Boyer and Sedlacek, 1988), and athletes (Sedlacek and Adams-Gaston, 1992). These studies have shown that the NCQ scales predict the grades, retention and graduation from college of the students in the studies noted above. Reliability estimates (test-retest and coefficient alpha) range from .70 to .94 on the eight scales with a median of .85.
One can do assessments of noncognitive variables using the NCQ or by interviewing using the profiles in Figure 2 (see Sedlacek, 1991). The NCQ is brief (two sides of one sheet), has validity and reliability information available on it, and is available at no cost from the writer along with scoring instructions. By doing assessments on noncognitive variables, one can increase the likelihood of doing more comprehensive and valid assessments and move toward a determination of which persons might be considered nontraditional in our work with individuals or groups.
In conclusion, if a group experiences prejudice and demonstrates abilities in ways different from those with traditional experiences, they are operationally defined as nontraditional. Even through groups as different as athletes and older people may show their diversity in different ways, the variables underlying their problems in dealing with their development, and in coping with a traditional system that was not designed for them, may have some similarities.
By employing the SAS and the NCQ according to the procedures noted above, it is possible to apply measurement principles to the problem of deciding who should be included when we plan diversity programs, conduct studies with nontraditional populations or try to make interpretations about what issues may underlie the experiences of a client or group. This should allow practitioners and researchers to move beyond issues of definition and reach higher levels of inductive thinking about nontraditional persons.
Balenger, V. J., Hoffman, M. A., & Sedlacek, W. E. (1992). Racial attitudes among incoming White students: A study of ten-year trends. Journal of College Student Development, 33 (3), 245-252.
Boyer, S. P., & Sedlacek, W. E. (1988). Noncognitive predictors of academic success for international students: A longitudinal study. Journal of College Student Development, 29, 218-222.
Carter, R. T., & Cook, D. A. (1992). A culturally relevant perspective for understanding the career paths of visible racial/ethnic group people. In H. D. Lea & Z. B. Leibowitz (Eds.), Adult Career Development: Concepts, Issues and Practices (pp. 192-217). Washington, D.C.: National Career Development Association.
Carter, R. T., White, T. J., & Sedlacek, W. E. (1987). White students' attitudes toward blacks: Implications for recruitment and retention. Journal of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 33, 165-175.
Engstrom, C. M., & Sedlacek, W. E. (1991). A study of prejudice toward university student-athletes. Journal of Counseling and Development, 70, 189-193.
Engstrom, C. M ., & Sedlacek, W. E. (1993). Attitudes of resident hall students toward student-athletes: Implications for advising, training and programming. Journal of College and University Student Housing, 23 (1), 28-33.
Fuertes, J. N., Sedlacek, W. E., & Liu, W. M. (1993). Using the SAT and noncognitive variables to predict the grades and retention of Asian-American university students. Counseling Center Research Report #8-93. University of Maryland, College Park.
Gerson, S. J., & Sedlacek, W. E. (1992). Student attitudes toward "JAPS": The new anti-semitism. The College Student Affairs Journal, 11 (3), 44-53.
Gill, R. C. Public school counselors' attitudes toward aging African-Americans. Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park.
Gilman, L. J. (1983). Assisting evangelicals in presenting a positive witness to Mormons. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, Mill Valley, California.
Helms, J. E. (1992). Why is there no study of cultural equivalence in standardized cognitive ability testing? American Psychologist, 47, 1083-1101.
Knight, G. D., Seefeldt, C., & Sedlacek, W. E. (1984). Measuring the attitudes of adults toward children. Counseling Center Research Report #4-84. University of Maryland, College Park.
McQuilkin, J. I., Freitag, C. B., & Harris, J. L. (1990). Attitudes of college students toward handicapped persons. Journal of College Student Development, 31, 17-22.
Minatoya, L. Y., & Sedlacek, W. E. (1983). The SASW: A means to measure environmental sexism. Journal of the National Association for Women Deans, Administrators and Counselors,
47 (1), 26-30.
Osgood, C. E., Suci, G. J., & Tannenbaum, P. H. (1957). The Measurement of Meaning. Urbana, Il, University of Illinois Press.
Patai, R (1973). The Arab mind. New York. Charles Scribner's Sons.
Prediger, J. (1993). Multicultural assessment standards: A compilation for counselors. Alexandria, Va. American Counseling Association.
Russo, N. F., Olmedo, E. L., Stapp, J., & Fulcher, R. (1981). Women and minorities in psychology. American Psychologist, 36, 1315-1365.
Schwalb, S., Sedlacek, W. E., & Jones, S. M. (1990). Have college student attitudes toward older people changed? Journal of College Student Development (1990), 31, 127-132.
Sedlacek, W. E. (1987). Blacks in White colleges and universities: Twenty years of research. Journal of College Student Personnel, 28, 484-495.
Sedlacek, W. E. (1989). Noncognitive indicators of student success. Journal of College Admissions, 1 (Fall) (125), 2-9.
Sedlacek, W. E. (1991). Using noncognitive variables in advising nontraditional students. National Academic Advising Association Journal, 2 (1), 75-82.
Sedlacek, W. E. (in press). Issues in advancing diversity through assessment. Journal of Counseling & Development.
Sedlacek, W. E., & Adams-Gaston, J. (1992). Predicting the academic success of student-athletes using SAT and noncognitive variables. Journal of Counseling and Development, 70, 724-727.
Sedlacek, W. E., & Brooks, G. C., Jr. (1970). Measuring racial attitudes in a situational context. Psychological Reports, 27, 971-980.
Sedlacek, W. E., & Brooks, G. C., Jr. (1972). Situational Attitude Scale (SAS) Manual. Chicago: Natresources, Inc.
Sergent, M. T., Woods, P., & Sedlacek, W. E. (1992). University student attitudes toward Arabs: Implications for programmatic intervention. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development (1992). 20, 123-131.
Sternberg, R. J. (1985). Beyond IQ. London: Cambridge University Press.
Sternberg, R. J. (1986). What would better intelligence tests look like? In Measures in the College Admissions Process (pp. 146-150). New York: The College Entrance Examination Board.
Stovall, C.D. (1989). Development of a measure of white counselor racial attitude toward black male client characteristics: The Counselor Situational Attitude Scale (CSAS). Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. University of Maryland, College Park.
Stovall, C., & Sedlacek, W. E. (1983). Attitudes of male and female university students toward students with different physical disabilities. Journal of College Student Personnel, 24, 325-330.
Sue, D. W., Arredondo, P., & McDavis, R. J. (1992). Multicultural counseling competencies and standards: A call to the profession. Journal of Counseling and Development, 70, 477-486.
Tracey, T. J., & Sedlacek, W. E. (1984). Noncognitive variables in predicting academic success by race. Measurement and Evaluation in Guidance, 16, 172-178.
Tracey, T. J., & Sedlacek, W. E. (1985). The relationship of noncognitive variables to academic success: A longitudinal comparison by race. Journal of College Student Personnel, 26, 405-410.
Tracey, T. J., & Sedlacek, W. E. (1987). Prediction of college graduation using noncognitive variables by race. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 19, 177-184.
Tracey, T. J., & Sedlacek, W. E. (1988). A comparison of White and Black student academic success using noncognitive variables: A LISREL analysis. Research in Higher Education, 27, 333-348.
Tracey, T. J., & Sedlacek, W. E. (1989). Factor structure of the Noncognitive Questionnaire-Revised across samples of Black and White college students. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 49, 637-648.
Washington, J. E. (1993). An investigation of attitudes of heterosexual identified resident assistant toward students based on the sexual orientation of the student. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park.
Westbrook, F. D., & Sedlacek, W. E. (1991). Forty years of using labels to communicate about nontraditional students: Does it help or hurt? Journal of Counseling and Development, 70, 20-28.
White, T. J., & Sedlacek, W. E. (1986). Noncognitive predictors of grades and retention for specially admitted students. Journal of College Admissions, 3, 20-23.
White, T. J., & Sedlacek, W. E. (1987). White student attitudes toward Blacks and Hispanics: Programming implications. Journal of Multicultural
Counseling and Development, (1987), 15, 171-182.
Wilkshire, D. M. (1989). Differential attitudes of student affairs professionals toward commuter and resident students. Unpublished Master's Thesis. University of Maryland, College Park.
Table 1
Form Differences on the SAS-Arab: Means and Standard Deviations
Situation Neutral Form Arab Form
Mean SD Mean SD
1. You are standing on a very crowded 32.98 5.6 34.35 7.1
bus surrounded by many (Arab*) people.
2. You are going on vacation with your 35.09 6.7 36.38 6.9
best friend and his/her (Arab*) friend
of the opposite sex.
3. You are boarding a plane for a vacation 35.93** 6.4 31.97 8.8
in Florida, and two young (Arab*) men
are boarding immediately behind you.
4. You are buying a used car from (an 30.01** 6.1 33.82 7.9
Arab*) salesman.
5. You are watching a television news 34.01 6.4 32.83 5.9
program about divorced (Arab*) fathers
being given custody of their children.
6. You are required to attend a 34.04 8.3 32.12 8.7
(an Islamic*) religious service for
a school research project.
7. You notice a (an Arab*) student 25.31 4.8 36.66 8.7
cheating on an exam.
8. You see a group of (Arab*) students 37.73 8.0 36.66 8.7
staging an on-campus demonstration
against discrimination.
9. You hear of a (an Arab*) student 38.66** 8.5 36.34 7.5
getting financial aid.
10. A new (Arab*) person joins your 37.20 6.5 36.90 8.4
social group.
Note: Higher scores denote more positive attitudes
*Form B insertion
**Means between forms were significantly different at .05 level using
MANOVA.
Figure 1
Instructions and Word Scales For SAS-Arab
This questionnaire measures how people think and feel about a number of social and personal incidents and situations. It is not a test, so there are no right or wrong answers. The questionnaire is anonymous, so please DO NOT SIGN YOUR NAME.
Each item or situation is followed by 10 descriptive word scales. Your task is to select, for each descriptive scale, the rating which best describes YOUR feelings toward the item.
Sample item: Starting school this fall
happy A B C D E sad
You would indicate the direction and extent of your feelings, (e.g., you might select B) by indicating your choice (B) on your response sheet by blackening in the appropriate space for that word scale. DO NOT MARK ON THE BOOKLET. PLEASE RESPOND TO ALL WORD SCALES.
Sometimes you may feel as though you had the same item before on the questionnaire. This will not be the case, so DO NOT LOOK BACK AND FORTH through the items. Do not try to remember how you checked similar items earlier in the questionnaire. MAKE EACH ITEM A SEPARATE AND INDEPENDENT JUDGMENT. Respond as honestly as possible without puzzling over individual items. Respond with your first impression wherever possible.
Figure 1 (continued)
Word Scales
Figure 2
Definitions of NCQ Scales
High Score Low Score
1. Positive Self-Concept Feels confident of making it Can express reason(s) why he/
or Confidence. through graduation. Makes she might have to leave school.
Strong self-feeling, positive statements about him/ Not sure he/she has ability to
strength of character. herself. Expects to do well make it. Feels other students
Determination, in academic and nonacademic are better than he/she is.
independence areas. Assumes he/she can Expects to get marginal grades.
handle new situations or Feels he/she will have trouble
challenges. balancing personal and academic
life. Avoids new challenges or
situations.
2. Realistic Self-Appraisal Appreciates and accepts Not sure how evaluations are done
especially academic. rewards as well as in school. Overreacts to most
Recognizes and accepts consequences of poor recent reinforcement (positive or
any deficiencies and performance. Understands reinforcement negative), rather
works hard at self- that reinforcement than seeing it in a large
development. Recognizes is imperfect and does not context. Does not know how
need to broaden his/her overreact to positive or he/she is doing in class
individuality. negative feedback. Has until grades are out. Does not
developed a system of using have a good ideas of how peers
feedback to alter behavior. would rate his/her performance.
3. Understands and Deals Understands the role of the Not sure how the "system" works.
With Racism. "system" in his/her life and Preoccupied with racism or does
Realist based upon how it treats nontraditional not feel racism exists. Blames
personal experience persons, often others for problems. Reacts with
of racism. Is committed unintentionally. Has same intensity to large and small
to fighting to improve developed a method of issues concerned with race/culture.
existing system. Not assessing the cultural/ Does not have a method of
submissive to existing racial demands of the successfully handling racism that
wrongs, nor hostile to system and responding does not interfere with personal
society, nor a "cop-out." accordingly - assertively, and academic development.
Able to handle racist if the gain is small or
system. Asserts school the situation is ambiguous.
or organization role Does not blame others for
to fight racism. his/her problems or
appears as a "Pollyana"
who does not see racism.
4. Prefers Long-Range to Can set goals and proceed Lack of evidence of setting and
Short-Term or Immediate for some time without accomplishing goals. Likely to
Needs. reinforcement. Shows proceed without clear direction.
Able to respond to patience. Can see Relies on others to determine
deferred gratification. partial fulfillment of Does not have a plan for
a longer term goal. approaching a course, school in
Is future and past general, an activity, etc.
oriented and does not Goals that are stated are vague
just see immediate and unrealistic.
issues or problems.
Shows evidence of
planning in academic
and nonacademic areas.
5. Availability of Strong Has identified and received No evidence of turning to
Support Person to whom help, support, and others for help. No single
to turn in crises. encouragement from one or support person, mentor, or
more specific individuals. close advisor can be identified.
Does not rely solely on Does not talk about his/her
his/her own resources problems. Feels he/she can
to solve problems. handle things on his/her own.
Is not a "loner". Access to previous support
Willing to admit that person may be reduced or
he/she needs help eliminated. Is not aware of the
when appropriate. importance of a support person.
6. Successful Leadership Has shown evidence of No evidence that others turn to
Experience in any influencing others in him/her for advice or direction.
area pertinent to his/ academic areas. Comfortable Nonassertive. Does not take
her background (gang providing advice and initiative. Overly cautious.
leader, church, sports, direction to others. Has Avoids controversy. Not well
noneducational groups, served as mediator in known by peers.
groups, etc.) disputes or disagreements
among colleagues.
Comfortable taking action
where called for.
7. Demonstrated Community Identified with a group No involvement in cultural,
Service. that is cultural, racial, racial or geographical group or
Has involvement in and /or, geographic. Has community. Limited activities of
his/her cultural specific and long-term any kind. Fringe member of
community. relationships in a group(s). Engages more in
a community. Has been solitary rather than group
active in community activities (academic or
activities over a period nonacademic).
of time. Has accomplished
specific goals in
community setting.
8. Knowledge Acquired Knows about a field or area Appears to know little about
in a Field. that he/she has not formally areas he/she has not studied in
Unusual and/or culturally studied in school. Has a school. No evidence of learning
related ways of obtaining nontraditional, possibly from community or nonacademic
information and culturally or racially activities. Traditional in
demonstrating knowledge. based, view of a field. approach to learning. Has not
Field itself may be Has developed innovative received credit-by-examination
nontraditional. ways to acquire for courses. Not aware of
information about a given credit-by-examination possibilities.
subject or field.