College Board abandons SAT adversity score after public backlash

[brooklynite]

Source: Axios

The College Board called off plans to issue an adversity score to students who take the SAT and instead introduced a new metric after facing disapproval from parents and teachers.

Why it matters: The score, called the “environmental context dashboard" announced in May, used 15 different factors from a student's social and economic background to create a single score for colleges to factor into their admission decisions. Some critics said the scores added to the debate whether race and socioeconomic status should be considered to determine college acceptance.

The big picture: Colleges have struggled with how to diversify their student bodies. The College Board has said it‘s concerned about income inequality influencing test results for years, per the Wall Street Journal.

What's happening: The College Board will pivot to a new plan, called Landscape, that will collect details about students' social and economic backgrounds, but will not combine the data points into a single score.

Read more: https://www.axios.com/college-board-abandons-adversity-score-public-backlash-f44b3de6-abb9-4e3e-a304-d185718aead6.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic&utm_content=1100

[virgogal]

1. Great news.

[Thomas Hurt]

2. IMHO this was a waste of time...

I believe almost everyone is capable of getting through college level work.

The problem is that some people just don't learn that way or just don't want to learn that way.

If you learn by doing you maybe better suited to the trades. electricians, farmers, mechanics are sharp people, skilled and knowledgeable but could care less about being "book smart".

My sister is a bright woman, she tried college courses but she just doesn't have that interest or ambition.

[Lonestarblue]

3. First generation college students often need help.

I heard an NOR interview this week with the author of a book called The Great College Dropout Scandal. The author was citing the huge cost to students who take out loans and then drop out because they think they can’t handle the work. One of the schools cited was UT Austin for instituting programs to counsel students and provide ongoing encouragement. Their dropout rates dropped significantly. It isn’t that minority students can’t handle the work, it’s that they need encouragement and sometimes a different approach to help them learn. Unfortunately, a lot of for-profit schools are the ones these students can get into and they fake horrible advantage of these kids. The author being interviewed actually commented that Betsy DeVos never met a fly-by-night for-profit school she didn’t support!

[Thomas Hurt]

4. Doesn't surprise me, I was first gen and I had that insecurity almost my whole time in college...

when was I going to hit the wall....as it were. Thing is I love reading and learning new things and discovered I loved to write as well.

[OnlinePoker]

5. A question from a Canadian regarding SATs

We don't have them in Canada and the only time someone here would take them is if they plan to go to college in the States. Is the SAT mandatory for everyone, even if they don't plan to pursue post-secondary education? What would happen if you refused to do it or just signed your name and left?

[Igel]

7. SATs are standardized commercial tests.

They're to gauge college preparedness, and are far from required for high school. Don't go, sign and leave; just don't go. Or, better yet, don't sign up and pay the fee. A lot of colleges don't require them, some require the ACT, and for some it's a sign of virtue to require none; a perk is that the fewer standard requirements there are, the more non-standard factors can assume swole status to help decide things in a virtuous and righteous way.

Their origin was to identify those who'd normally be discriminated against and yet who were ready for college-level work, back in the days when very few ethnicities were eagerly accepted and when a lot of non-upper-crust whites weren't acceptable. The standard trope these days is that they're racist, with the knowing expression that says they were always intended to be racist. They were intended to address a need--get more, better qualified candidates to college. The Russians were coming, you know.

For all the disclaimers (by others) that SATs have no predictive value, they tend to do a good job with predicting first year scores; after that, they lose some predictive value. Coupled with high-school GPA, they do a better job.

There's the claim that the privileged have much better scores on the SATs because of SAT-prep courses. Most of that is through teaching testing strategies. Over time, as standardized state tests become more entrenched at higher levels, some of that advantage faded; as school districts started having all students take it, that advantaged tanked. The SAT test prep does about as good a job as taking the SAT once for real. Khan Academy is free (at least through most schools) and does SAT prep--the difference is that it's one thing to be from a high SES family where the parents tell the kid to go and do f--king well on the prep course and the SAT, and to be from a lower SES family where the kid's likely to be discouraged when taking the SAT and see no point in test prep.

In some countries, by late in a SAT testing cycle handbooks containing most of the SAT questions and their answers are available in countries where the score matters more than the knowledge.

[Drahthaardogs]

8. It's a money-making racket and nothing more

The Catholic schools literally teach the stupid test all 4 years. You can pay money to improve your scores.

Bottom line is a kid who excels at AP courses while doing band, sports, and a part time job can and will succeed in college.

[Yavin4]

9. The larger issue is that there are huge disparities in public education quality across various

school districts. Low income districts do not have the resources to prepare students for higher education, let alone the SATs. In the 21st century, we still dismiss the importance of education at all levels because we're still being led by people who still think that a high school dropout can get a middle class paying job.

These same people will give the defense department a blank check but won't aggressively spend on education.

[eggplant]

6. Many colleges and universities are moving away from standardized testing anyway.

The College Board is trying to stay relevant and failing badly.