Small Strokes Big Oaks

I came across an interesting article this week that makes the assertion that “Your SAT score has little to do with your life.”

Many colleges are catching on to this. They know that the SAT and the ACT are designed to do nothing more than predict first-year college grades. They also know that high school grade-point averages do that job about as well. So they are admitting students without any SAT or ACT scores at all. Bob Schaeffer of FairTest, the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, said: “No test can measure the skills that matter most in life: creativity, perseverance, collaboration, vision, self-discipline and the like.”

And this article from Deeply Problematic dissects the studies showing that the SAT is biased against non-white students (read the whole article, it’s really good!):

According to Maria Veronica Santelices of the Catholic University of Chile and Mark Wilson of the University of California at Berkeley at the Harvard Educational Review:

[Our research] throws into question the validity of the test and, consequently, all decisions based on its results. All admissions decisions based exclusively or predominantly on SAT performance — and therefore access to higher education institutions and subsequent job placement and professional success — appear to be biased against the African American minority group and could be exposed to legal challenge.

Interesting that scientific studies and colleges are just catching on to this now; something that I had a sense of when I was in high school and taking these tests myself.  I don’t usually go into the inherent racism behind these standardized tests with my students – most of my students are Black or Latino/a, so why stress them out about it unnecessarily before they take a test they’re already super nervous about?  But I do tell my students that the score they will receive on the ACT is just a number, and they can always take it again if they need to.  After all, it’s just a test!

But that isn’t really true either, is it?  I spend entire school years tricking my students into learning ACT prep material by making them think they are learning something else.  I spend entire class periods giving lectures on the format of the ACT and test taking tips.  Two days before the ACT last year, my juniors could barely even focus on whatever task was at hand because they had this nerve-wracking, two-day event hanging over their heads.

And, as teachers, we know this test is really super important because these scores not only dictate which colleges will accept which students, but also how schools are ranked and which schools receive certain funding.  Soon, these tests may be tied to teacher pay and job retention.  The stakes on these high-stakes tests just got higher, it would seem.

There is, of course, quite a bit of cognitive dissonance here.  We know not every student is going to college right out of high school, if at all.  Some can’t afford it, some don’t want to go, some won’t need it for their career choice, and that’s all ok!  But here we are, putting such emphasis on a test that is not necessary for all students, and that we know is inherently racist and doesn’t have much bearing on what you do with your life.

I know I’m not the first person to write this sentiment about standardized tests.  Hopefully, I won’t be the last.  But it is an important sentiment to consider.  Tests are important, yes, but what one does with an education is arguably more so.

How do your schools deal with standardized testing?  What do you feel about it?  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Related articles:

• Does the SAT Matter? (teachstreet.com)
• Standardized Testing – Friend or Foe? (brighthub.com)
• Princeton Review To Stop Claiming 255-Point Boost In Test Scores (huffingtonpost.com)