The debate over the value of standardized testing, specifically in regards to college admissions, is nothing new. For decades, critics, educators, families, and students alike have argued that standardized testing does not provide an accurate assessment of individual abilities. Instead, scores are often determined by available resources and external factors that disadvantage students from marginalized groups.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic gave these critics a cause for celebration, with FairTest reporting that over 1600 colleges went test-optional for the 2020-2021 application season. For the first time, students could choose whether or not to submit standardized test scores.
Since then, the majority of schools have yet to revert back to pre-COVID standards. In 2021, the prestigious University of California System unanimously chose to no longer consider any standardized testing scores when making admissions or scholarship decisions. The system’s board reasoned that this permanent test-blind admission process is intended to combat assertions that the SAT/ACT is an unfair and outdated measure of student prowess. As a result of this decision, UCLA Professor and Association for the Study of Higher Education former president Sylvia Hurtado explained that, “all racial and ethnic groups benefited with increases in admissions” due to the shift to more holistic review processes. Nevertheless, it has maintained its exceptional reputation, while UC Berkeley and UCLA remain tied for the #1 spot in the yearly U.S. News & World Report.
Meanwhile, Columbia University has indefinitely extended its test-optional stance, with many regarding it as the first Ivy-League institution to permanently abolish testing requirements. It appeared as though the pandemic pushed colleges to move away from standardized testing and a more holistic review.
However, MIT, Georgetown University, and Dartmouth reinstated their standardized testing requirements in 2022. Amid widespread notions that the SAT/ACT perpetuated inequities, Stu Schmill, MIT’s dean of admissions, claimed that the absence of standardized scores tended to “raise socioeconomic barriers to demonstrating readiness for our education.”
In addition, Sian Beilock, Dartmouth’s president, conducted a study on standardized testing and concluded that it outperformed all other forms of predicting student success at Dartmouth. The research also revealed that low-income students were negatively affected by the test-optional policy. The authors reasoned that many disadvantaged students opted out of submitting test scores that could have benefitted their application out of the false belief that they were too low. Dartmouth’s press release claims that scores are not “binary” and are judged upon mean data from the student’s high school.
Furthermore, during a New York Times interview, Beilock emphasized that reinstating testing requirements could lower the number of applicants and therefore offer those who do apply a better chance of acceptance.
Dartmouth professor Bruce Sacerdote added that due to the increasing number of international applicants, test scores are a “really helpful tool,” a common SAT/ACT defense.
However, these conclusions seem counterintuitive to the merit-based, mainstream, conjecture that standardized testing is an agent of inequality. The SAT has been labeled a “white preference test” by The Harvard Educational Review, with writing topics catering mainly to the white demographic. This claim is reflected in a 2022 analysis of College Board examination records. The study revealed that Black individuals scored a mean of 926 on the SAT, while White individuals scored a mean of 1099.
Furthermore, according to a 2015 Inside Higher Education analysis, the lowest average SAT scores are produced by students from households that have an income of less $20,000 and the highest average originate from students in households with incomes over $200,000. A 2009 College Board study discovered that the correlation between family background and SAT performance ranges from about .25 and .40, which encourages some researchers to dilute standardized testing to a question of “are you rich?” This disparity is often due to the fact that wealthier families can afford better tutors, study materials, education, and test preparation than lower-income families can. In addition, college-educated families are more likely to hold a college education in high regard and to encourage students to pursue it.
There is also the cost of taking the test itself. Registering for an SAT test costs $60. Changing a test center or canceling costs an additional $25, and late fees hike up the price even further. The first four colleges chosen to send a report to are free, but afterward, there is a $14 fee per additional college. The cost to send rush reports is doubled. Some high schools do offer a free, in-school SAT/ACT, but this usually only occurs once a year.
Additionally, although fee-waivers are available to low-income students, they are severely underutilized. The New York Times reports that more than half of students across the country are eligible for subsidized school meals (which also means they would qualify for an SAT/ACT fee waiver), but only 25% of 2017 exam takers used a waiver. This disparity is attributed to the hassle of confirming eligibility.
Furthermore, fee waivers only cover two exams, which means that even low-income students who do utilize assistance cannot retake the SAT/ACT until they receive a satisfactory score in the same fashion that a well-off student can. Low-income students may feel pressured to do well on an exam because it is their last chance. In contrast, wealthier students are backed by a security blanket of financial backing to retake the exam multiple times if their scores are not on par.
This leads to the perennial mystery: if standardized tests don’t provide an accurate depiction of student potential, what does? Many researchers have concluded that high school GPAs are a better indicator of student overall performance than a single standardized test.
However, others claim that high school grades utilize varying grading scales or processes, limiting this perspective’s credibility. Dartmouth also reasons that foreign transcripts don’t provide adequate information about student achievement.
In retrospect, neither standardized scores nor GPAs appear to provide a truly fair judgment of a student’s capacity for academic success. However, colleges must assess something, and from a general standpoint, grades likely provide a more comprehensive picture of a student.
However, another approach seems to have emerged. In 2023, Yale joined its contemporaries and reinstated standardized testing requirements–with a different approach. The university adopted a “test-flexible” policy in which some form of standardized testing is mandatory, but Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate scores are accepted in place of SAT/ACT results.
Since AP and IB exams are taken by subject over the course of high school, they likely provide more well-rounded depictions of student performance than a single SAT/ACT exam does and are more akin to assessing GPA. Yet, AP/IB scores are homogeneous and do not face the inflation and variance obstacles that traditional grades do. Therefore, this policy seems to have achieved a reasonable compromise: one that enables colleges to utilize standardized yet more diversified data when making their admissions decisions.
Of course, these exams also come at a price: a single AP exam costs between $98 and $146. Although fee waivers are offered, the challenge of obtaining one parallels that of the SAT/ACT waivers.
In June 2023, these admissions testing policy controversies were brought to a head when the Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard University case was taken to the Supreme Court. A landmark ruling banned affirmative action in regards to college admissions under the Equal Protections Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. This meant that race conscious admissions with an emphasis on diversity would no longer be permitted.
People protest against affirmative action in front of the Supreme Court in Washington D.C. on June 29, 2023. (Mariam Zuhaib/AP)
In the aftermath of the ruling, the removal of other diversity barriers became infinitely more pressing. One of the most prominent impediments to a diverse student body is standardized testing.
Thus, the importance of a genuine test-optional policy remains, and for the time being, it may be the most equitable offer. Students who believe their SAT/ACT/AP/IB scores positively reflect them can send them, while students who don’t do as well as they hoped for whatever reason can prevent schools from negatively judging them.
The ongoing controversies are far from over; yet in the meantime, perhaps the most fair route colleges can take regarding standardized test scores is to provide students with the freedom to choose.
Comments