Colleges are scrapping college entrance exams, but that won’t necessarily make college admissions … [+]
The University of California rattled the education world when they joined a number of colleges and universities making it option for students to submit SAT or ACT scores for admissions due to the coronavirus. Advocates rejoiced, but they’ll miss the forest for the trees if they think scrapping the SAT will make college admissions equitable.
The coronavirus accelerated colleges and universities going test-optional, but this isn’t an entirely new phenomenon. Advocates have pushed colleges in recent years to adopt these policies due to equity concerns around testing.
Equity concerns with testing abound. Research shows that White and Asian students, on average, score higher than Black or Latinx students and low-income students are less likely to out-score their wealthier peers.
That should come as no surprise. More affluent families can afford expensive test prep and tutoring. Not to mention these exams come at a price. (Testing organizations offer ways for low-income students to get their test covered, but that is a burden placed on students.)
So, of course, it sounds like getting rid of these tests is better for college admissions. But what is often missed is that test scores are just one of many factors considered in the college admissions process that benefit the most advantaged students.
Most colleges today would say they consider the entire applicant when deciding whether to admit a student or not, not just their SAT or ACT score. Some are more reliant on test scores than others, but the decision usually doesn’t come down to that one number. They consider the scores, a student’s grade point average (GPA), essays, and more.
Shifting away from test scores in admissions decisions makes them more reliant on those other factors, putting even more weight on things like an applicants’ extracurricular involvement and whether they took Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) courses. But nearly all of those disproportionately benefit more well-off students.
Research says that GPA is a better predictor of student success in college and that may be true, but GPA can also benefit more affluent students’ applications. Many low- and middle-income students have work or other family obligations that impact their schoolwork in and out of the classroom.
Making tests optional doesn’t address those problems. In order to make college admissions truly more equitable, the whole process should consider the full context of students. That means considering students’ backgrounds and how it impacts every piece of their application.
A low-income student working 30 hours a week doesn’t have all the time in the world to dedicate to their schoolwork. Nor do they have the money to afford test prep or the time study for the exam. A student who is hoping to be the first in their family to earn a four-year degree can’t necessarily ask their parents to edit applications and provide feedback.
Some might say admissions essays can capture this context. But it’s not necessarily that simple. Low-income students often have a hard time telling their stories. Sharing intimate details of your life with a stranger isn’t something most are comfortable with, especially when those details aren’t positive.
Anthony Jack, Ph.D., a professor at Harvard and the author of “The Privileged Poor,” said it best when describing the process. ““Make them cry,” we hear. And so we pimp out our trauma for a shot at a future we want but can’t fully imagine.”
In many cases, students may not even see their circumstances as something worth sharing — either because it’s all they know or because they know other students just like them. Living in poverty in the United States sadly isn’t uncommon.
Inequity is woven throughout the college admissions process. Low-income students apply and enroll in college at a lower rate than their more affluent peers. Higher-income students often attend high schools with more resources, like guidance counselors that encourage them to apply to college. And those are the schools where elite colleges recruit.
College entrance exams aren’t perfect, but they can serve as a way to identify a college-ready low-income student. When Michigan required students to take the ACT—and provided the test during school hours at no cost—they found new students they didn’t know should be college bound. For every 1,000 students that scored high enough to attend a selective college before the policy, another 230 students were recognized as scoring high enough.
And for low-income students, that number is larger. They found 480 more college-ready, low-income students for every 1,000 low-income students before the test was required. And this has been shown in other states too.
Eliminating the requirement for testing could mean that fewer states will provide the SAT or ACT, and that could mean thousands of low-income students who would benefit the most from a college degree won’t take the exam and be identified as “college material.”
To be clear, it’s not that testing is good and test-optional policies are bad. It’s just that on their own, they don’t address the equity issues of the college admissions process. The fact is that low-income students, students of color, English language learners, and first-generation college-going students are at a disadvantage in almost every aspect of applying to college.
Of course, a pandemic is a unique situation. But admissions offices could and should consider that when reviewing a student’s application. A true holistic approach would consider test scores—knowing their limitations—with the full picture of a student.
Instead of making entrance exams optional, colleges should require them but ensure they aren’t the end-all, be-all of the admissions decision. Test scores should be considered as just one part of a student’s application. And states should do their part by providing entrance tests for students during school hours and at no cost. Doing so is a better way to ensure that low-income students get every chance they can to go to college.
