Long, impersonal, repetitive, stressful: there are few things less popular, especially among young people, than standardized testing. Specifically, when students reach their junior year, it’s not just yearly state testing that they have to worry about — the SAT and ACT come into play, too. That process, and its deep inequity, is our focus here.
For years, a single number has been a defining factor in students’ college applications: their SAT or ACT score. The SAT began its rise to prominence with its creation in 1926, and the ACT joined it in 1959. Ever since, the students at the tail end of their high school careers have scrambled to prepare themselves for a test that could define their future.
Supposedly, these tests have served as objective measures of students’ aptitude. That’s what “SAT” stands for, after all — the Scholastic Aptitude Test. However, beyond the annoyance and frustration felt by students who must struggle through the testing process, there are serious concerns to be raised about these tests’ effectiveness.
First, the SAT and ACT may not even be necessary. A 2014 study of 850 colleges and universities found negligible differences in the collegiate performance of students who did or did not submit test scores as part of their applications. By using grade point averages (GPAs) and other school-based metrics, colleges can still effectively determine who should be admitted to their institution.
So, okay, we may not need the SAT or ACT. Hundreds of colleges, including the Ivy League schools, recently going test-optional for their admissions seems to confirm that. But do they cause any harm?
Data seems to suggest that standardized tests do, in fact, negatively impact the fairness of college admissions. In 2014, the Washington Post published this story exhibiting, through four starkly presented sets of data, that SAT scores tend to align closely with socioeconomic status. Years of additional research have continued to support this concern. On many charts, the trend lines for standardized test performance and familial wealth can be almost indistinguishable.
Well-resourced families can provide their kids with expensive test prep courses, personalized tutoring, and more ways to seek a leg up. Essentially, anyone with money can buy the opportunity to game the system, studying technical test strategies as opposed to really demonstrating their knowledge on the subjects.
Based on these problems, it is time to move away from the importance of standardized testing in college admissions. They’re unfair and unnecessary, and everyone — from colleges to kids — would be closer to liberty and justice for all without their skewed influence.