Standardized tests for college admissions have come under intense scrutiny, especially during the COVID pandemic.
But some administrators and testing experts argue that the backlash against tests like the SAT and ACT is unfair and based on little evidence, according to The New York Times.
“[A] a growing number of pundits and university administrators are wondering whether the switch was a mistake,” New York Times reporter David Leonhardt wrote in a feature on the trend away from testing requirements at US colleges.
“Research increasingly shows that standardized test scores contain real information, helping to predict college grades, chances of graduation and post-college success,” Leonhardt wrote in a feature from Sunday. “Test scores are more reliable than high school grades, partly due to grade inflation in recent years.”
Some administrators at America’s top universities agree that tests like the SAT and ACT are valuable predictors of academic success. “Standardized test scores are better predictors of academic success than high school grades,” wrote Brown University president Christina Paxson in a letter published in June.
Standardized tests for college admissions have come under intense scrutiny, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Monkey Business – stock.adobe.com
Dean of admissions at MIT Stuart Schmill told the Times that grades don’t tell the whole story of a student. “Just getting straight A’s is not enough information for us to know if a student is going to be successful or not,” Schmill said.
Schmill also argued that MIT, one of the few elite institutions in the US that maintains its testing requirements, actually increases diversity on campus.
“Once we brought back the testing requirement, we admittedly had the most diverse class we’ve ever had in our history,” Schmill told The Times. “Having test scores helps a lot.”
Some administrators at top colleges agree that the SAT and ACT are valuable predictors of academic success. WESTOCK – stock.adobe.com
“Test scores have far greater predictive power than is commonly understood in popular debate,” said Brown University economics professor John Friedman.
Friedman is one of the authors of a study on the importance of testing for highly selective colleges in the US.
Liberals have led opposition to standardized testing, claiming that it discriminates against Black and Hispanic students, who tend to score lower than White and Asian students.
Leonhardt, however, disputed the argument that “racial and economic disparities in SAT and ACT scores” prove that “the tests are biased.”
“After all, most measures of life in America — on income, life expectancy, home ownership and more — show disparities,” he wrote for the New York Times. “No wonder: Our society suffers from great inequality. The problem is not generally with statistics, however. The relatively high black poverty rate is not a sign that the statistics are biased. Nor does eliminating that statistic reduce poverty.”
“When you don’t have test scores, the students who suffer the most are the ones with high grades at relatively unknown high schools, the kind that rarely send kids to the Ivy League,” said Harvard economist David Deming. “The SAT is their lifeline.”
Liberals have claimed that the test discriminates against Black and Hispanic students, who tend to score lower than White and Asian students. SNEHIT PHOTO – stock.adobe.com
Other professors support a revolutionary full admissions system to higher education. University of California Riverside professor Eddie Comeaux told The Times that “[h]leaving the lottery” will force the education system to “radically rethink what it means to gain access and even to learn, rather than accept the status quo.”
Some school administrators say that the conversation about standardized testing is a very political conversation. For progressives, endorsement tests like the SAT and ACT can be dangerous.
“It’s politically incorrect,” Georgetown University dean of admissions Charles Deacon told the Intelligencer in a 2022 interview.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
