The Misguided War on the SAT After the Covid pandemic made it difficult for high school students to take the SAT and ACT, dozens of selective colleges dropped their requirement that applicants do so. Colleges described the move as temporary, but nearly all have since stuck to a test-optional policy. It reflects a backlash against standardized tests that began long before the pandemic, and many people have hailed the change as a victory for equity in higher education. Now, though, a growing number of experts and university administrators wonder whether the switch has been a mistake. Research has increasingly shown that standardized test scores contain real information, helping to predict college grades, chances of graduation and post-college success. Test scores are more reliable than high school grades, partly because of grade inflation in recent years. Without test scores, admissions officers sometimes have a hard time distinguishing between applicants who are likely to do well at elite colleges and those who are likely to struggle. Researchers who have studied the issue say that test scores can be particularly helpful in identifying lower-income students and underrepresented minorities who will thrive. These students do not score as high on average as students from affluent communities or white and Asian students. But a solid score for a student from a less privileged background is often a sign of enormous potential. “Standardized test scores are a much better predictor of academic success than high school grades,” Christina Paxson, the president of Brown University, recently wrote. Stuart Schmill — the dean of admissions at M.I.T., one of the few schools to have reinstated its test requirement — told me, “Just getting straight A’s is not enough information for us to know whether the students are going to succeed or not.” An academic study released last summer by the group Opportunity Insights, covering the so-called Ivy Plus colleges (the eight in the Ivy League, along with Duke, M.I.T., Stanford and the University of Chicago), showed little relationship between high school grade point average and success in college. The researchers found a strong relationship between test scores and later success. ......... Many consider the tests to be unfair because there are score gaps by race and class. Average scores for modest-income, Black and Hispanic students are lower than those for white, Asian and upper-income students. The tests’ critics worry that reinstating test requirements will reduce diversity. The Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision has heightened these concerns. If selective colleges made admissions decisions based solely on test scores, racial and economic diversity would indeed plummet. Yet almost nobody in higher education favors using tests as the main factor for admissions. The question instead is whether the scores should be one of the criteria used to identify qualified students from every demographic group.
Yeah, colleges dropped the SATs and Satan clubs are meeting in public schools. Conservatism in full force brought to you by a right wing Supreme Court and misguided right wing law suits. You idiots can’t say you weren’t warned.
It's estimated that it takes about 4 years for students to adjust academically after a Pandemic has been declared...done (no more...it is over). Thus, I don't see high school and college entrance requirements putting the same emphasis on SAT/ACT scores & preparations until the fall academic year 2027 considering most countries "officially" started getting back to normal on May 5th of 2023 when the WHO declared the global Public Health Emergency (PHE) for COVID-19 as being over. Simply, according to discussions I had this past summer with several academic guidance counselors at several top 10 American universities...they will put more emphasis on "creative students" in comparison to emphasis on SAT/ACT which tends to penalize "creative students" before the Pandemic. They used phrases like “non-cognitive skills”, such as active learning strategies, intrinsic motivation, growth mindset, grit, social-emotional intelligence, imagination, and creativity that contribute to lifelong learning, growth, and personal fulfillment. Therefore, at least until 2027, high school students need to develop their "non-cognitive skills" to become attractive to Universities until the return of the standardized testing format that predicts academic performance. During a few parent/prospectus student tours this summer, I saw too many teenagers lacking emotional maturity, interpersonal skills, and curiosity associated with their personality, temperament, and attitude. In other words, most seemed withdrawn as they interacted with their parents and other prospectus students. wrbtrader
SAT and ACT can be practiced up and taken several times. A students challenging course load and GPA is a better indication of their Academic success than a fixed standardized test probably. Colleges learned during test optional periods that they still found "worthy' students without it (and even in current cycle...
Obviously many other schools don't agree. The SAT and ACT are also big business,of course they'll have some lobbyists fighting to keep them.