How Could SAT's Possibly Still Happen? Why does CB refuse to acknowledge reality?

yearstogo
Sun, 24 May 2020 14:07:49 +0000

As far as I understood, the UC Academic Senate were originally tasked with looking into whether to drop standardized testing and after studying the issue recommended to keep it. It is interesting that the UC President recommended otherwise. I have not followed too closely but I remember reading initially that the UC Senate felt the SAT/ACT were important.

https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/underreview/sttf-report.pdf

Specifically,

"How well do UC’s current standardized testing practices assess entering high school students for UC readiness? How well do UC current standardized testing practices predict student success in the context of its comprehensive review process?

The STTF found that standardized test scores aid in predicting important aspects of student success, including undergraduate grade point average (UGPA), retention, and completion. At UC, test scores are currently better predictors of first-year GPA than high school grade point average (HSGPA), and about as good at predicting first-year retention, UGPA, and graduation.

For students within any given (HSGPA) band, higher standardized test scores correlate with a higher freshman UGPA, a higher graduation UGPA, and higher likelihood of graduating within either four years (for transfers) or seven years (for freshmen). Further, the amount of variance in student outcomes explained by test scores has increased since 2007, while variance explained by high school grades has decreased, although altogether does not exceed 26%.

Test scores are predictive for all demographic groups and disciplines, even after controlling for HSGPA. In fact, test scores are better predictors of success for students who are Underrepresented Minority students (URMs), who are first-generation, or whose families are low-income: that is, test scores explain more of the variance in UGPA and completion rates for students in these groups.

One consequence of dropping test scores would be increased reliance on HSGPA in admissions. The STTF found that California high schools vary greatly in grading standards, and that grade inflation is part of why the predictive power of HSGPA has decreased since the last UC study."

Anecdotally, we have a friend whose son took AP Chemistry at the same time as our son. The son goes to a smaller high school and for various reasons struggled with the class but ultimately received an A, as did DS. On the AP Chem exam, the friend’s son scored a 2 (and we understand most of the class did very poorly) and our son got a 5 (and most of the class scored 4’s and 5’s). I think HS GPA’s continue to get inflated and think that standardized test scores still have a role to play although it would be nice to see a better org than CB responsible for it.