Lat month, California groups demanded University of California drop the SAT, alleging it illegally discriminates against disadvantaged students. Meanwhile, the lawsuit of canceling SAT score will influence more than 1,000 colleges and universities across the nation.
For decades, the U.S. students have spent tons of money in taking the standard tests that provided by college board. It becomes an unavoidable pathway for students to get into their dream colleges. However, the debate has increased greatly over the last few years, with some argue that college board has too much power in students' entrance to colleges.
Despite college board announced in august that they will cancel the adversity score that originally designed for students from different racial background, its calculation of adversity score still exists and greatly harms students who come from the low income background. Private colleges today tend to more likely narrowing down student list to those who need financial aid.
Tracking back to history, college board is a non-profit organization that designs to test pre-college students and help colleges select their future students. Despite claiming as a non-profit, college board has earned huge amount of money from each single high school graduate. As it becomes more attached to some college's needs (College board know what kind of students colleges are searching for), it designs different tests for students in charge of expensive registration fee. For those who can't pay to tests were denied to the better chances of getting in a good college.
As a monopoly, college board plays well its role in single the choices of students to apply good colleges. Because colleges need standard ways to evaluate future students and kids want to go to good colleges, college board has been accepted as the sole organization to satisfy both needs. However, in the future, as more of us are more aware that students cannot be judged solely by score, it seems like there is a chance of revolution in college board and standard tests.
References:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-10-29/california-groups-demand-uc-drop-the-sat-saying-they-illegally-discriminate-against-disadvantaged-students
https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherrim/2019/09/11/the-sat-adversity-score-is-still-happening-and-colleges-may-use-it-against-low-income-students/#4b7e23522ff8
https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2019-08-27/college-board-backtracks-on-adversity-score
https://www.studentpost.org/2017/11/college-board-monopoly-on-education/
Although College Board may be a monopoly, it is hard to think of another way to test students across the country at a standardized level. However, as more and more schools turn test optional, perhaps there will be less of a need for these tests. This will also help get rid of some of the gaps in applications between different social classes/disadvantaged individuals.
ReplyDeleteThis is similar with AP tests. Students are often encouraged to pay for and often times hire a tutor to be successful on these standardized tests which don't serve much of a purpose considering it is a score off of only one test.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the points you make about paying College Board is unavoidable in order to get into a “good school”. Standardized test scores are required for just about every school that you apply to, and that requires paying large amounts of money. This is especially true when people feel the need to retake the SAT in order to get a better score. Many students also pay for tutors, which can be extraordinarily expensive, in hopes of doing better on the test. This is a huge disadvantage for people with a lower income because they may not be able to afford a tutor or college counselor, and also may not be willing to spend the money to take the SAT multiple times.
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