I don’t agree with this CSU proposal to end the use of standardized testing. It’s simply not the correct response to a disparity in test results.
I do agree that students from more affluent backgrounds tend to perform better on these tests, but evidence points to the cause as simply being the additional resources afforded affluent youths. In short, higher tests score are the result of being better prepared – both for the standardized tests and for college; higher test score are good.
By eliminating the test requirements, two things will happen:
1) Students in general won’t prepare for these tests, and as a result will be less prepared for college; and
2) More affluent students will simply go to better colleges where their test scores matter.
This is just another example of how dropping the bar to the lowest common performance level – not exactly something that will drive American excellence – will have significant unintended consequences. It will make the average American student dumber while widening the performance and prosperity gap between affluent and poor youth.
While I applaud the effort to increase college prospects for less advantaged youths (after all, it’s not their fault that their family is poor), we need to remember that education is a scarce resource. As such, it must be allocated to those who will do the most with the opportunity. In this case the solution is not to lower the bar; we must instead maintain the bar while improving the study and test resources available to poor or disadvantaged students.
To do otherwise is a disservice to the student.