What does the research say about the validity of grades in predicting employee performance?
As a faculty member, I always tell my students that grades are important and that a high grade in my class will make them rich, famous, and good looking. Though my advice may not be entirely true, grades actually seem to have validity in predicting success in several areas. As you can see in the table below, meta-analyses indicate that grades predict job performance, training performance, and promotions. Grades are most valid in predicting work-related criteria when the GPA was from a bachelor’s (rcr,rr,pr = .36) or master’s degree (rcr,rr,pr = .50) rather than a doctoral degree (rcr,rr,pr = .15), the work-related criteria were measured within a year of graduation (rcr,rr,pr =. 49, and the results were reported in an older study (Roth, BeVier, Switzer, & Schippmann, 1996).
