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No ACT or SAT needed for at least the next five years to get into California's public colleges and universities. Many schools won't require the tests for the class entering this fall because of Covid-19. But California is taking it to another level entirely, deciding to get rid of the test requirements entirely for the next five years while it decides if it can devise its own.
"The University of California board of regents voted Thursday to stop using the SAT and ACT college admissions exams, 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."
This is a big deal and I'm sure it will be closely watched over the next few years to see how it affects learning at the state's schools -- especially the two flagships, Berkelely and UCLA -- and how or if the ethnic makeup of those student bodies will change. I think an overreliance on standardized tests is not good, although subject tests IMO can demonstrate a student's mastery of specific academic areas. But I also think that the state got itself into the situation its in now by voting to end affirmative action many years ago, which would have allowed it to admit more poor, black, and Hispanic kids who could thrive at the top schools but who had lower test scores. It's the chickens coming home to roost.
(Just FYI, I noticed this story because NYC is going through the same thing, trying to figure out how to get more black and Hispanic students into its elite high schools, where admission is based solely on a single test and where, like UCLA and Berkeley, Asian students predominate.)
It's going to be very interesting how this plays out on two different coasts in two important states.
Be good to seem them get rid of the tests and see how it changes the academic performance of the student body. It will make a nice data point.
Personally I don't believe the tests are discriminatory, but I also am not convinced they actually measure what they purport to measure. Mostly I think they measure how well you can take a standardized test.
It's an attempt to balance out the racial makeup at elite colleges. California has been violating it's Prop 209 with Black and Latino students accepted to elite colleges with 300 SAT points lower than Asian American students. There are high schools with Latino majority and over 70% of students fail basic standard math. Most of them are children of the poorest immigrants from South America and they have little chance to compete. I understand the arguments from both sides. My concern is my Asian American kids will have to work a lot harder in life.
I also don't think the tests are biased against any racial group. We know that high SAT score doesn't guarantee success. I am an Engineer and I have seen Engineers that are very smart but so poor in personal skills that they can barely function in a company.
It's an attempt to balance out the racial makeup at elite colleges. California has been violating it's Prop 209 with Black and Latino students accepted to elite colleges with 300 SAT points lower than Asian American students. There are high schools with Latino majority and over 70% of students fail basic standard math. Most of them are children of the poorest immigrants from South America and they have little chance to compete. I understand the arguments from both sides. My concern is my Asian American kids will have to work a lot harder in life.
I also don't think the tests are biased against any racial group. We know that high SAT score doesn't guarantee success. I am an Engineer and I have seen Engineers that are very smart but so poor in personal skills that they can barely function in a company.
Again your kids dont have to go to the best schools. I went to a mediocre state school in NY, found what I wanted to do.. and now im going to a top 3 school for grad school. As long as they do well in any undergrad, theyll get into a good grad school.
I get both sides too, but what makes a school great is how diverse it is. It cant be overwhelmngly white or asian.. you lose a huge portion of what would make the school great. I rather see a Hispanic kid with a 1800 on his SATS . who grew up in a really bad household who worked 35 hours a week to pay rent for his family, get into my school over an Upper Middle Class/Free Handout White/Asian kid with a 2100 SAT Score. Boring! Theres more to the face of college admissions then a crappy SAT test or a meaningless GPA.
As a white male, shouldnt the White/Asian kid in an upper middle class household have an SAT score 300 points higher? I mean, when you get handed more tools in your toolbox and you dont have to live through as many experiences as other races/groups of people, you should have a higher SAT/GPA score. That hispanic kid with an SAT 300 points less will make up for it in experiences he brings to the university.
Again your kids dont have to go to the best schools. I went to a mediocre state school in NY, found what I wanted to do.. and now im going to a top 3 school for grad school. As long as they do well in any undergrad, theyll get into a good grad school.
I get both sides too, but what makes a school great is how diverse it is. It cant be overwhelmngly white or asian.. you lose a huge portion of what would make the school great. I rather see a Hispanic kid with a 1800 on his SATS . who grew up in a really bad household who worked 35 hours a week to pay rent for his family, get into my school over an Upper Middle Class/Free Handout White/Asian kid with a 2100 SAT Score. Boring! Theres more to the face of college admissions then a crappy SAT test or a meaningless GPA.
As a white male, shouldnt the White/Asian kid in an upper middle class household have an SAT score 300 points higher? I mean, when you get handed more tools in your toolbox and you dont have to live through as many experiences as other races/groups of people, you should have a higher SAT/GPA score. That hispanic kid with an SAT 300 points less will make up for it in experiences he brings to the university.
I agree with your point regarding diversity. But most of the white kids certainly are NOT upper middle class at the state schools. Most of them are from middle class and poor families and many are the first to attend college. They in large part don't get coached for admission tests either.
According to various articles in the media, these tests are being frowned on more and more as being racist and classist. Times have definitely changed.
I would imagine that some students will be admitted who simply can't do the work. Presumably they will be lost through attrition.
Why not use your time and resources to develop more realistic curriculum that makes students more productive in this world and more engaged in their careers than spend millions of tax payer dollars to create your admission test...
Just one more salvo in the assault on merit. We should allow anyone interested into medical or law school too, I mean why not?
I think we can all agree that studying a difficult and specialized field like medicine, law, engineering, computer science or the like, at the graduate level, is far different than non-specialized undergraduate education. That should be obvious. We do not have the system they have in England, where undergraduates generally apply to specific majors at the top universities.
Moreover, defining “merit” involves far more than just test scores, especially for undergraduates. Grades, course selection, non academic accomplishments, and life circumstances, can easily reveal “merit” as well. Can these factors together show as much as an SAT score?
Many top schools are test optional, but I don’t know of any that will not consider test scores even if they are submitted. Let the great experiment begin!
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