A Correlational Study of ABET Student Outcome and Fundamentals of Engineering Exam Performance

This paper assessed the potential for student academic achievement, measured through their performance in ABET Student Outcomes (SOs), to display a significant correlation to student performance and impressions of difficulty associated with Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam disciplines.Engineering programs in the United States may use these two direct student measurement tools as a barometer of student achievement, particularly for their junior and senior-year cohorts; however, the relationship between the two measures and the implications of any performance gaps is often poorly understood.Cohort analyses frequently lack information on indirect measures, such as students' perceptions of their own mastery and weaknesses, removing a critical dimension when evaluating academic performance.Using a three-year cohort of data from the Virginia Military Institute, the research performed statistical analyses to identify potential collinearity and quantify performance gaps between ABET SO attainment and FE exam subject mastery.The analysis also assessed the moderating effect of student perceptions of difficulty, captured from a prior survey, on these performance gaps.The goal of this research was to provide comprehensive insight for the engineering department to not only identify where significant gaps may exist between the ABET SO assessment and FE performance, but also to propose a new blueprint for using student perception data as a diagnostic tool for targeted curricular adjustments and academic support.This approach aimed at allowing engineering departments to better prepare future cohorts for their professional licensure examinations and enhance the effectiveness of engineering education.