“[D]oes standardized testing support good [admissions] decision making, or does it artificially truncate the pools of students who would succeed in college if they were given a chance?” asks a new study, covered by National Public Radio (NPR) and widely shared and discussed on Facebook when it was reported on Feburary 18th.
The study, “Defining Promise: Optional Standardized Testing Policies in American College and University Admissions,” was written by William Hiss, former dean of admissions at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.* Bates College was one of the nation’s first test-optional schools, according to NPR—and currently one of approximately 800 institutions in the U.S. with a test-optional policy.
Test scores not as predictive as high school grades
The study “is the outcome of a three-year, foundation-sponsored study of 33 colleges and universities with one form or another of optional testing…”—approximately one percent of all four-year American colleges and universities, and approximately five percent of institutions with optional testing policies.
“This study will be a first step in examining what happens when you admit tens of thousands of students without looking at their SAT scores,” Hiss said. “And the answer is, if they have good high school grades, they are almost certainly going to be fine.”
Hiss found that there was virtually no difference in grades and graduation rates between test "submitters" and "nonsubmitters." Just 0.05 percent of a GPA point separated the students who submitted their scores to admissions offices and those who did not. And college graduation rates for "nonsubmitters" were just 0.6 percent lower than those students who submitted their test scores.
According to the report, “With approximately 30% of the students admitted as non-submitters over a maximum of eight cohort years, there are no significant differences in either Cumulative GPA or graduation rates between submitters and non-submitters.”
On the other hand, according to the report, a student’s high school grades are the best predictor of his or her success.
Tests give more information; mitigate grade inflation
"The information in this study, of course, is valuable,” James Montoya, the College Board's vice president for higher education, told NPR. The College Board administers the SAT. “But I also think it needs to be put into context in relationship to the many thousands of colleges and universities who find that the SAT is an extremely useful tool in the admissions process.”
And ACT’s senior vice president of research, Wayne Camara said that "more information is always better in admissions decisions. ... Another reason why tests are also important is to ensure that grade inflation is held at bay."
The role of holistic admissions
Luke Schultheis, vice provost at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and incoming AACRAO vice president for admissions and enrollment management, noted that many schools now review students holistically. VCU reviews grades, test scores and utilizes Fair Select as a tool for measuring non-cognitive variables.
“[Holistic admissions] may have included assigning a quantitative value to aspects of student performance or engagement outside of grades,” such as athletics, leadership, clubs and volunteerism, Schultheis said. “However, students should not discount the importance of standardized tests or grades in school or of anything required in an application for admission. If it is required, it should be considered important in making an admission decision.”
“What should be most important to the student is identifying a set of institutions where they feel a fit, where they feel encouraged to become engaged both academically as well as socially. Then the student will excel,” Schultheis said. “Conversely, the student who gains access to an institution yet who feels isolated or lost will probably not perform optimally and the chances of graduation could be severely diminished—regardless of high school grades or test scores.”
What do you think?
"Human intelligence is so multifaceted, so complex, so varied, that no standardized testing system can be expected to capture it," says William Hiss. But can these tests give us useful information when making admissions decisions?
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*The report is published on the website of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). According to NACAC, it is a “comprehensive effort to assess student outcomes in test-optional admission settings […] a project in keeping with the recommendations of NACAC's Commission on the Use of Standardized Admission Tests in Undergraduate Admission.”