University of California Will Stop Using SAT, ACT

[DEAD7]

University of California Will Stop Using SAT, ACT


The University of California board of regents voted Thursday to stop using the SAT and ACT college admissions exams (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source), reshaping college admissions in one of the largest and most prestigious university systems in the country and dealing a significant blow to the multibillion-dollar college admission testing industry. The unanimous 23-to-0 vote ratified a proposal put forward last month by UC President Janet Napolitano to phase out the exams over the next five years until the sprawling UC system can develop its own test.

The battle against standardized tests has raged for years because minority students score, on average, lower than their white classmates. Advocates argue that the exams are an unfair admission barrier to those students because they often cannot pay for pricey test preparation. [...] Ms. Napolitano's proposal allows four years for the UC system to develop a new exam. If it fails to create or adopt one, then it likely would cease to use any exam, said Robert Schaeffer, public education director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, known as FairTest, which has fought against standardized testing for 30 years. Mr. Schaeffer said he doesn't believe a new exam will be implemented.

 

[Adeptus Astartes]

Good. Standardized tests are
Grades, courseload, and extracurricular activities should be enough. Factor in family background as well.

Folks are going to spin this as some concession to SJWs and low performing minorities, though.

 

[phcitywarrior]

I'm not sure this is it. Will have to read a bit more into this before passing my take on it.

I've always thought standardized tests as a way to level the playing field if there are gaps in other parts of your application (EC, courses etc).

 

[ogc163]

 

[hashmander]

University of California Will Stop Using SAT, ACT


The University of California board of regents voted Thursday to stop using the SAT and ACT college admissions exams (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source), reshaping college admissions in one of the largest and most prestigious university systems in the country and dealing a significant blow to the multibillion-dollar college admission testing industry. The unanimous 23-to-0 vote ratified a proposal put forward last month by UC President Janet Napolitano to phase out the exams over the next five years until the sprawling UC system can develop its own test.

The battle against standardized tests has raged for years because minority students score, on average, lower than their white classmates. Advocates argue that the exams are an unfair admission barrier to those students because they often cannot pay for pricey test preparation. [...] Ms. Napolitano's proposal allows four years for the UC system to develop a new exam. If it fails to create or adopt one, then it likely would cease to use any exam, said Robert Schaeffer, public education director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, known as FairTest, which has fought against standardized testing for 30 years. Mr. Schaeffer said he doesn't believe a new exam will be implemented.

that line is pure nonsense in regards to california. slashdot isn't counting asians as minorities for this story and they are the ones who disproportionately benefit at the expense of these so called higher performing white students. berkeley and ucla are predominantly asian.

 

[get these nets]

trash

You're taking standardized tests to enter graduate school, and then to become certified in your profession.

College boards are just a precursor.

 

[FreedMind]

It states in the article that the UC system is going to create it's own tests.

 

[EndDomination]

This isn't going to help poor students or Black and Latino students.

They're just going to weigh using the other biased factors - and it's going to hurt the high-scoring Black kids who normally get an ACT/SAT boost (I was one of them, though I didn't realize how high until later on).

They're also creating another test that will functionally perform exactly the same.

 

[Starman]

Folks are going to spin this as some concession to SJWs and low performing minorities, though.

Right...

 

[the cac mamba]

Grades, courseload, and extracurricular activities should be enough.

why? every school is different, whereas everyone takes the same exact SAT. i don't see how else you would compare an entire nation of high school kids and what they learned

i don't have a real stake in this argument but just as an observation

 

[ogc163]

 

[Yinny]

I'm not sure this is it. Will have to read a bit more into this before passing my take on it.

I've always thought standardized tests as a way to level the playing field if there are gaps in other parts of your application (EC, courses etc).

They’re not getting rid of standardized testing, they’re developing their own to replace the two.

 

[Yinny]

Good. Standardized tests are
Grades, courseload, and extracurricular activities should be enough. Factor in family background as well.

Folks are going to spin this as some concession to SJWs and low performing minorities, though.

You forgot essays/writing samples but they’re not-sticking to grades, courseload and extracurriculars still disadvantage students in neighborhoods/districts that don’t have rich or respected offerings. As imperfect and biased as they are, a single shot test does help level some of these four-year long disparities.

What do you mean by family background? Bonus “points” for first-gen, legacy, donors?

 

[Scholar]

When SAT/ACTs performance are correlated w families income and wealth

Students who score lower on these exams and still get into these school still do well so what's the point of having the exams as a gate keeper?

 

[FabTrey]

this is only bad for asians.