Shmoop’s Post

🎓 Dartmouth College has made a groundbreaking decision to reinstate standardized test score submissions, marking a significant shift in the higher education landscape. I applaud this decision as a product of a well-meaning but weaker public school system. The SAT score was one pivotal factor that likely helped me achieve my dream of getting into my dream school, Dartmouth. 🌟 President Sian Beilock's strategy centered on data-driven insights, revealing that test scores were a better predictor of student success at Dartmouth than high school grades, essays, or teacher recommendations. This internal study challenges prevailing notions of standardized test efficacy and their impact on admissions. 📈 A surprising finding unearthed by the Dartmouth study revealed that many lower-income students made a strategic mistake during the pandemic by withholding test scores that would have helped them get into Dartmouth. These students wrongly believed that their scores were too low, when in truth the admissions office would have judged the scores as a testament to their ability to overcome challenging environments and thrive at Dartmouth. This reinstatement of the test requirement at Dartmouth is pivotal, offering hope to deserving students who, like me, may come from non-prestigious schools and public school systems. It emphasizes the significant role standardized tests can play in providing a fair evaluation of students' potential. #HigherEducation #AdmissionsObjectives #InclusiveEducation #StudentSuccess #FutureOfEducation #Admissions #DartmouthCollege #StandardizedTesting #DataDrivenDecision #Gobiggreen #biggreen https://lnkd.in/epysxaWf

Rethinking The Pushback Against Standardized Testing The majority of selective colleges and universities dropped their standardized testing requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic and, generally, this policy has stuck. After years of growing data showed a privilege gap inherent in the SAT and ACT – specifically along racial lines – this move was celebrated by many. However, new data suggests that the situation could be more complicated. Not only do the SAT and ACT help admissions officers differentiate between students who will likely do well at elite colleges and those who may struggle (“a much better predictor of academic success than high school grades,” according to Brown University President Christina Paxson), these scores can even help predict success post college. Furthermore, this piece argues that limiting the influence of standardized tests could, counterintuitively, be somewhat harmful for vulnerable people: SAT and ACT scores can be useful in identifying high-potential students from underserved communities, and if those students are not required to submit scores, they could be overlooked. Takeaways: Without SAT/ACT scores, which, despite their shortcomings, are intended to be fully objective measures, more subjective metrics have been heavily favored, which, in some cases, can be even more influenced by privilege: personal statements, extracurricular activities, and even GPAs. Critics of standardized tests raise valid concerns that reinstating test requirements will reduce diversity; however, if harnessed correctly, SAT and ACT scores can help bolster a diverse student body. According to MIT Admissions Dean Stuart Schmill “once we brought the test requirement back, we admitted the most diverse class that we ever had in our history.” https://lnkd.in/di-8Jqcd

Many colleges dropped standardized test requirement during covid.. Now, they are rethinking it as research has shown that standardized test scores contain real information, helping to predict student's chances of college success. Researchers claim that the test scores are more reliable than high school grades. The problem with this reasoning is the 'eithr-or' mentality. Why not take all available information combined with past success results and build a proper predictive score, where input variables include both, standardized scores and high school achievements along with a host of other information? Todays media are all about the LLM. But there is place for a simple predictive score in this complex world. Do not throw the baby with the bath water. #collegeadmissions, #collegesuccess, #predictiveanalytics

"Meanwhile, the University of California system found that standardized-test scores helped predict first-year grades for all students, and especially the grades and graduation rates for underrepresented minority, first-generation, and low-income students. A faculty panel that finished its work in January 2020, before Covid-19 was on most colleges’ radars, recommended that the system maintain its test requirement." But it didn't. It is test-BLIND! They won't consider test scores. When CUNY did this in the 1970s, they found that admitted students could not do the work. Maybe UC will just lower the bar. Building "a diverse community," regardless of likelihood to graduate should not be the overarching goal in college admissions. If we lower the standards and push everyone through to graduation, the diploma loses value. When there is an overproduction of degrees, it leads to relative deprivation (the feeling that one is entitled to better wages, status, etc.). And when the promise of better wages and status fails to be realized, people lose faith in the social contract, relative deprivation ensues, and society is destabilized (see Weimar Republic, Arab Spring, Hong Kong, Occupy, BLM, etc.: Korotayev, 2020; Farooq, 2017; Kwok 2022; Zamęcki 2018; Snow et al. 1998; Van Dyke & Soule 2002).

These studies focus solely on student success at a handful of the most "elite" universities with the lowest rates of admission. The findings should not be extrapolated and applied universally across the full spectrum of higher education. In my experience at five universities, SAT and ACT scores were less predictive of student success than grades in advanced courses as well as AP, IB, or AICE exam scores (and SAT Subject Tests, before they were jettisoned by the College Board). There needs to be a much broader longitudinal study that is not funded by ACT, College Board, or ETS before testing requirements are reinstated at colleges and universities where they provide little or no predictive value.

Todays reading is from Francie Diep Francie takes a measured look at the testing debate. Providing nice context and overview for the conversation and minimal hyperfocus on highly rejectives increasing their exclusion. -[[ NCAT!!!! [if you dont know you better learn!] and Joseph Montgomery are mentioned and quoted! ]]] Joe's quote reminds me of when I tweeted: "Is it me or does it seem that highly rejective colleges only want to enroll students they'll have to teach and support the least in order to get them to graduate "prepared" for career?" Tidbits: - It’s well established that poorer students tend to do worse on standardized tests, and that Asian and white students outperform Black and Hispanic ones on average. So how could making all students turn in test scores help make campuses more diverse? - For some observers, it all seems a bit hypocritical. The colleges in question are some of the world’s wealthiest institutions. They serve a relatively small share of the country’s low- and middle-income and minority students. - Generally, studies find that high-school grades and test scores together go a quarter of the way in predicting a student’s grades at the end of their first year in college. Three-quarters of their GPA remains unrelated to those measures. - “We know over time what our students need to be successful. We can take students far below the standards of MIT, far below the standards of Caltech, and yet make good and great engineers out of them,” Montgomery said. “I wish more of our institutions thought that way.” https://lnkd.in/eJZ6dxbg

Test optional? Dartmouth College has chosen to reverse course in the test-optional department. Starting with next year's high school graduation class, Dartmouth will require that all applicants submit test scores. According to a study that was conducted by a group of Dartmouth professors, standardized test scores are beneficial for several reasons (that I don't completely agree with), and test-optional policies actually create a barrier to entry for high-achieving, less-advantaged students (I surprisingly agree with a few of these points). The professors pronounce that test scores are highly predictive of academic achievement in college. That is the part that I don't completely buy, though. There are many students who are strong in the classroom, but weak in the standardized testing department, and they go on to become highly intelligent and successful college students. Anyway, expect to see much more news about test-optional admissions and the test-optional wars. Here's my advice: Take the ACT and/or SAT (colleges do not prefer one test over the other) at least once and see how you do. If you don't love your score, no problem; you can either try again or decide to apply to schools that are TRULY test optional. These are institutions that embarked on the test-optional path far before COVID, when more than 80% of colleges dropped the testing requirement. Institutions who commited to test-optional policies pre-pandemic passionately believe that test scores do NOT add value to an application. FairTest has the full and most up-to-date list of test-optional schools in the USA. #collegeadmissions #testoptional

"She was rejected by Duke, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Columbia, and the University of Southern California" even with a perfect score on the ACT. This article highlights that the college application landscape is changing, and now, students need more than great GPAs and SAT scores to get into top schools. If you're a student or parent of one who's applying to college this year, please do not hesitate to reach out. I would be happy to chat and help 😁 #collegeadmissions #NewYorkTimes #highereducation #CollegePrep

When considering a college or university, it’s crucial to look beyond the surface and determine its ability to support and guide students towards successful graduation. Unfortunately, some institutions in America fall short in this aspect. Let’s take a look at some of the colleges and universit