Reply to University Of California Reaches Final Decision: No More Standardized Admission Testing

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[quote=Anonymous]There are two different studies being discussed here — one re: whether prep works, and one re: whether test scores are predictive of success.

I posted above critical of the study that found prep didn’t work. TLDR: they manipulated the data to discount gains made by privileged kids (aka kids that are most likely to get effective tutoring).

I don’t disagree that test scores are predictive of success. The question is, what are the tests actually testing for?  It is a fact that privileged kids — not only the wealthy, but those with involved parents who value education — do well in college.  Prep can be expensive, but it can be done, as others have pointed out, for minimal cost. But how many kids would do that without parental encouragement and oversight? My kid didn’t do it, even with parental encouragement. They did do it when I paid for a tutor, and raised their ACT score from a 31 to a 34.  That’s the difference between being eligible for elite schools and, well…not.

At the end of the day, my kid scored well enough that they will be benefitted by an emphasis on test scores. But this process did convince me that the test is, at best, an extremely inaccurate measure of raw intelligence, and throwing $$ at the problem can make a major difference. If all you care about is whether the kid has the background and support systems in place to succeed in college, that’s a good thing, I guess. But many (most) universities have decided that they don’t want to discriminate against bright kids who have happened to not to be born with those advantages.

It actually seems to me that test optional is the best of several highly imperfect options. Let the kids that have high test scores submit them (and expect that from privileged kids), but don’t hold it against kids who don’t have them. [/quote]

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