Millennial Debate Standardized Testing Debate
A2: Use SAT Subject Tests
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- A2: Use K-12 Standardized Tests
- Test Optional Boosts Diversity
- More than 850 universities have test optional admissions
- Eliminating SAT scores increases Black applications and enrolment
A2: Use SAT Subject TestsSubject tests not a statistically significant predictorRichard Atkinson & Saul Geiser, 2013, Saul Geiser is a Research Associate in the Center for Studies in Higher Education, University of California, Berkeley. He is former Director of Research for Admissions and Outreach for the University of California system, Richard C. Atkinson is President Emeritus of the University of California and Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Science and Psychology at the University of California, San Diego. Soares, Joseph A. (2011-09-30). SAT Wars: The Case for Test-Optional College Admissions, Teachers College Press. Kindle Edition, page number at end of card Our ability to predict student performance in college on the basis of factors known at the point of admission remains relatively limited. After decades of predictive-validity studies, our best prediction models (using not only test scores but high school grades and other academic and socioeconomic factors) still account for only about 25– 30% of the variance in outcome measures such as college GPA. This means that some 70– 75% of the variance is unexplained. That should not be surprising in view of the many other factors that affect student performance after admission, such as social support, financial aid, and academic engagement in college. But it also means that the error bands around our predictions are quite broad. Using test scores as a tiebreaker to choose between applicants who are otherwise equally qualified, as is sometimes done, is not necessarily a reliable guide, especially where score differences are small. Moreover, there is little difference among the major national tests in their ability to predict student performance in college. Although the New SAT, ACT, SAT Subject Tests, and AP exams differ in design, content, and other respects, they tend to be highly correlated and thus largely interchangeable with respect to prediction. It is true that subject-specific tests (in particular the AP exams) do have a statistically significant predictive advantage (Bowen et al., 2009; Geiser & Santelices, 2006), but the statistical difference by itself is too small to be of practical significance or to dictate adoption of one test over another. The argument for achievement tests is not so much that they are better predictors than other kinds of tests but that they are no worse: “The benefits of achievement tests for college admissions— greater clarity in admissions standards, closer linkage to the high-school curriculum— can be realized without any sacrifice in the capacity to predict success in college” (Geiser, 2002, p. 25). Soares, Joseph A. (2011-09-30). SAT Wars: The Case for Test-Optional College Admissions (Kindle Locations 861-866). Teachers College Press. Kindle Edition. A2: Use K-12 Standardized TestsK-12 standards don’t match admissions standards for elite universitiesRichard Atkinson & Saul Geiser, 2013, Saul Geiser is a Research Associate in the Center for Studies in Higher Education, University of California, Berkeley. He is former Director of Research for Admissions and Outreach for the University of California system, Richard C. Atkinson is President Emeritus of the University of California and Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Science and Psychology at the University of California, San Diego. Soares, Joseph A. (2011-09-30). SAT Wars: The Case for Test-Optional College Admissions, Teachers College Press. Kindle Edition, page number at end of card California’s experience illustrates a more general problem likely to confront efforts to develop standards-based assessments that bridge the institutional divide between state university and K– 12 school systems. Standards for what is expected of entering freshmen at selective colleges and universities are different and usually much more rigorous than K– 12 curriculum standards. They overlap, to be sure, but they are not the same, and institutional conflicts over standards and testing are probably inevitable for this reason. College and university faculty are right to be skeptical about using K– 12 tests in admissions if it means relinquishing control over entrance standards. And it is understandable that secondary school educators are concerned that, in seeking to adapt and modify K– 12 tests for use in admissions, colleges and universities may exert undue influence over curriculum standards for the schools. Soares, Joseph A. (2011-09-30). SAT Wars: The Case for Test-Optional College Admissions (Kindle Locations 806-811). Teachers College Press. Kindle Edition. Test Optional Boosts DiversityTest optional policies improve diversityJames Moynihan, MA, Spring, 2014, MA Thesis Admitting Bias: A Review of the Test-Optional Admission Policy at George Mason University, http://digilib.gmu.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1920/8679/Moynihan_thesis_2014.pdf?sequence=1 DOA: 10-25-15 Espenshade and Chung (2005) have used predictive modeling to explore the racial and socio-economic diversity that SAT optional policies would have on college campuses. Their studies have found “unambiguously that increased racial and socioeconomic diversity can be achieved by switching to test-optional admission policies” (p. 20). Research shows that schools who implement test-optional admission policies see an average of 6.6% increase in overall applications, with black and Hispanic student applications growing by 30% (p.189). While the SAT theoretically should be the middle ground for all college-bound applicants, it has actually acted as a hindrance for thousands of prospective college students. More than 850 universities have test optional admissionsJoseph Soares, 2013, Joseph A. Soares is a Professor of Sociology at Wake Forest University. His book The Power of Privilege: Yale and America’s Elite Colleges (2007) was instrumental in Wake Forest’s decision to go test-optional in admissions. An earlier book on universities in the United Kingdom, The Decline of Privilege: The Modernization of Oxford University (1999), won a national award from the American Sociological Association. For most of 2008, he was a member of the National Education Policy Group for Barack Obama’s campaign for U.S. President. Dr. Soares organized the national “Rethinking Admissions” conference held at Wake Forest University in April 2009. Soares, Joseph A. (2011-09-30). SAT Wars: The Case for Test-Optional College Admissions, Teachers College Press. Kindle Edition, page number at end of the card In May 2008, Wake Forest University announced a new admissions policy, no longer requiring SAT/ ACT scores as part of the application process. With this change in policy, Wake Forest joined approximately 750 other four-year-degree-granting institutions that were test-optional. And those ranks have grown: as this book nears publication, approximately 850 institutions have gone test-optional. Wake Forest was singled out as the first highly ranked national university to go test-optional. News outlets ranging from the Charlotte Observer to the New York Times covered the change, including several positive editorials. Soares, Joseph A. (2011-09-30). SAT Wars: The Case for Test-Optional College Admissions (Kindle Locations 151-154). Teachers College Press. Kindle Edition. Eliminating SAT scores increases Black applications and enrolmentJoseph Soares, 2013, Joseph A. Soares is a Professor of Sociology at Wake Forest University. His book The Power of Privilege: Yale and America’s Elite Colleges (2007) was instrumental in Wake Forest’s decision to go test-optional in admissions. An earlier book on universities in the United Kingdom, The Decline of Privilege: The Modernization of Oxford University (1999), won a national award from the American Sociological Association. For most of 2008, he was a member of the National Education Policy Group for Barack Obama’s campaign for U.S. President. Dr. Soares organized the national “Rethinking Admissions” conference held at Wake Forest University in April 2009. Soares, Joseph A. (2011-09-30). SAT Wars: The Case for Test-Optional College Admissions, Teachers College Press. Kindle Edition, page number at end of the card In the buzz over Wake Forest’s decision, the connection between testing and racial disparities in America was highlighted. According to The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, “Wake Forest presents the most serious threat so far to the future of the SAT…. University admissions officials say that one reason for dropping the SAT is to encourage more black and minority applicants. Blacks now make up 6 percent of the undergraduate student body” (“ Wake Forest Presents,” 2008, p. 9). The year after the new policy was announced, Wake Forest’s minority applications went up by 70%, and the first test-optional class (which enrolled in the fall of 2009) was 23% black and Hispanic, a big leap forward. For Wake Forest, as for many other colleges, there is an inverse relationship between the weight placed on high-stakes test scores and the diversity of an applicant pool and matriculating class. Soares, Joseph A. (2011-09-30). SAT Wars: The Case for Test-Optional College Admissions (Kindle Locations 154-160). Teachers College Press. Kindle Edition. 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