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Why we should do away with standardized testing
Dave_Berry
CC Admissions Expert 511 replies3140 threads CC Admissions Expert
"In recent news, UW-Madison announced the decision to make college admissions tests like the SAT and the ACT optional through Summer 2023, placing an even greater emphasis on holistic admissions.
While this decision was a direct consequence of the ongoing global pandemic, a departure from standardized testing for college admissions has been trending in recent years, even pre-pandemic. The University of Chicago was probably the first high-profile university to go test-optional in 2018. They are certainly not the only major university to have taken such an approach. Some universities have taken a test-flexible approach, with NYU standing out as most prominent. Even the University of California system voted early this year to phase out such tests over the next five years.
All things considered, all colleges should look at gradually phasing out standardized testing and adopting a test-optional approach on a permanent basis. The pandemic provides an opportunity to test such a scenario.
In order to make a case for going test-optional, it is necessary to understand the shortcomings of standardized testing." ...
Opinion.
https://www.dailycardinal.com/article/2020/09/why-we-should-do-away-with-standardized-testing
4 replies While this decision was a direct consequence of the ongoing global pandemic, a departure from standardized testing for college admissions has been trending in recent years, even pre-pandemic. The University of Chicago was probably the first high-profile university to go test-optional in 2018. They are certainly not the only major university to have taken such an approach. Some universities have taken a test-flexible approach, with NYU standing out as most prominent. Even the University of California system voted early this year to phase out such tests over the next five years.
All things considered, all colleges should look at gradually phasing out standardized testing and adopting a test-optional approach on a permanent basis. The pandemic provides an opportunity to test such a scenario.
In order to make a case for going test-optional, it is necessary to understand the shortcomings of standardized testing." ...
Opinion.
https://www.dailycardinal.com/article/2020/09/why-we-should-do-away-with-standardized-testing
Replies to: Why we should do away with standardized testing
Saying that test scores are only the second best indicator of college success, behind high school GPA, so we should eliminate it means we should also elimnate extracurricular, recommendation letters, and other inputs, as they’re also inferior indicators of college success. When did “we should only use the single most important factor” become a way to judge something? This implies the “holistic” acceptance process is a complete failure.
Leading with such poor arguments leads to a loss of credibility for other points and the overall thesis of the story, IMHO.
Pending demographic shift of fewer (much fewer?) college age kids plus less international kids equals need to make it much easier to admit students to XYZ university regardless of scores is my my first guess.
Until you can standardize high school GPA across all schools you need multiple data points for admission.
When they take away full-pay ability for admission criteria I'll be impressed.
Exactly. The OpEd demonstrates poor critical thinking skills, but that is not uncommon when: 1) a college student is under deadline to publish something/anything, and 2) one has a political pov.
(as an aside, I'm convinced the only value in the essay is a hand-written piece that can be used for suspected fraud)