Reply to What if Colleges Truly Required Test Scores

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It is so weird to me how obsessed some of you are with test scores as the end all and be all—and I say this as someone with a kid who got at 36 on the ACT in their first and only try.

I don’t think this entitles my kid to admission over kids with lower or no test scores. I think TO is great. I am glad 95% of schools are still TO.

Some of you need to off X and get outside. Good lord.[/quote]
I agree. I think it’s the parents of high scorers who can’t believe a student can show intelligence/ talent/ potential/ ambition/ drive in another way. [b]Test blind has worked out just fine for California schools [/b][/quote]

Worked out just fine?  https://www.forbes.com/sites/annaesakismith/2025/12/11/uc-san-diego-finds-one-in-eight-freshmen-lack-high-school-math-skills/

[i]The academic consequences of inadequate math ability are significant, the UCSD report indicated. Students who begin in remedial math have much lower rates of success in later math courses, and very few eventually complete engineering degrees. 
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[/quote]

Fascinating that this massive effect was found among students whose secondary schooling coincided with a two-year period when a pandemic killed more than 1 million people, closed many schools, and then prevented normal functioning of schools for an extended period after reopening.

But, no, it must be because of test optional admissions. Come on.[/quote]

Seriously?  Had the school had the math SATs for these students, they would never have been admitted. 
[/quote]

Or…math skills overall took a big hit because of pandemic-related educational disruptions, which would account for the extremely dramatic findings in the particular time period considered in this study:

[quote]The report shows a rapid change over just five years. [b]Between 2020 and 2025[/b], the number of incoming students whose math skills were below high school level rose nearly thirtyfold[/quote]

Like, literally, many of these students had minimal math instruction for two years of this timeframe, years when they would have been getting instruction in pre-algebra, algebra, and geometry; that’s devastating to development of math skills. If tests had been required, I have no doubt that some would have been screened out by the SAT or ACT in this period. But many—particularly those with access to test tutoring—would not have been.

I’d love to see this study repeated in five and ten years. My guess is the results will be less dramatic. As we’re seeing with so many parts of society—think crime, which has fallen off a cliff in the last couple of years after a pandemic-related spike—the pandemic was disruptive in ways we are only starting to understand.[/quote]

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