Ripped from the Headlines: Faculty Report Suggests UC’s Keep SAT/ACT as Part of Admission Process

I came across this article through several sources, but ultimately used the one published in the Washington Post. Let’s just start with the ‘so what’ part of the story. Is this really surprising? Not to those in the know. The University of California received applications from approximately 175,000 high school seniors this year (not total applications – that figure simply represents the student headcount), for roughly 71,000 spots.

The tests are being kept, ostensibly, because they are still good predictors of student success in the UC system (namely, they are better predictors of college success, as measured by college freshman GPA, than a high school GPA alone). That said, the same task force is looking into creating its own standardized exam that fulfills its mission better than the existing options of SAT and ACT. Critics of standardized testing believe the exams are discriminatory on issues of race, income, and the education level of the student’s parent(s). The task force report suggests otherwise: it states that standardized testing could actually identify black, Latino and low-income students and bring their applications into the light (for the record, I have little idea how this would be accomplished).

Please understand that standardized tests still accomplish a couple things for application readers. They show, to a certain extent, how well a student performs under pressure and on long-duration exams (things they will have to do in college). They also provide another data point, along with GPA, to add context to the overall application. But realistically, they provide a statistical reference point for both application readers (to a lesser extent) and to college ranking guides (to a greater extent - which many of you still use, to my dismay). The standardized test is still the easiest measuring stick the public uses to determine (incorrectly) the merit and quality of the student population attending any given institution of higher learning. The thinking is, the higher the average test scores, the better the school, the better the education, the better the competition…and the better jobs will follow (for the record, all of these hypotheses can be incorrect). While a rather silly measurement, it is used every day, all across the globe. It is for this reason, more than any other, that keeps the standardized testing universe moving forward and quite profitable.

The task force and report were ordered by UC President Janet Napolitano last year. Beyond the suggested findings, the report said a new, UC-specific test, could take up to nine years to create and implement.

The UC Board of Regents has the final say on what the system will do regarding standardized testing, and that decision will be made in the next couple of months. That said, it is rare that a faculty recommendation is overturned by the UC Regents.

The test scores are used, not just to measure an individual’s success on the exam, or as a measure of intelligence, but as a measuring stick against students from the same high school (the thinking being students from the same school have similar opportunities for success – which again, is a reach at best).

Several other sources are noted as disagreeing with the UC findings and ask for a more public showing of sources and methods of the task force study.

For those of you interested in reading the entire article, please follow this link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/02/04/university-california-should-keep-requiring-sat-or-act-scores-admissions-task-force-says/.