We Hate Standardized Tests: Let's Stop Hand-Wringing and Start Acting

Given my line of work, I have a LOT of conversations about standardized testing, both when I'm working and in general. Particularly given the huge change looming in the SAT/PSAT and Michigan's switch to that test from the ACT, this has been on the forefront of many minds. Students. Parents. Administrators. Teachers. Aunts. Grandpas. Siblings. Family friends.

And the refrain I hear, and fair enough, is that we hate this. We hate it. We hate watching our children be reduced to bubble grids and composite numbers and GPAs, as though an actuary is about to calculate the risk/reward associated with their entire life (but basically, that's what's happening). For people who have ample resources, it's a strain still on the emotional well-being. Students get very overloaded, as I've discussed in my post in defense of millenials and discussion of a student suicide. For families with adequate but not generous resources, things can be even worse, as they decide how much to expend getting their child accepted to college versus how much to have available to help pay for it.

Then there's the group that breaks my heart. The group that didn't have the resources before these tests became overemphasized and test prep became a necessity for so many, and was just scraping by at that point. The group that realizes (or sometimes doesn't) that they're competing against so much more than their child's effort or innate intelligence.

Say what you will, quote the stats that you will. I know a lot of test prep doesn't work. I also know that I can raise the score of any student that is willing to do what we talk about, if I'm given enough time with her/him. In some cases, that helps students get into their dream schools, but in others, it ends up ensuring that they get accepted anywhere decent - that they don't go to a community college or online degree mill. And that's one fewer seat at a decent school for the group living in subsistence who can't pay me.

The quickest, most disruptive solution would be for every high school student to immediately stop doing any test prep and to refuse to sit for the exams. In a system like that, colleges would face very hard decisions - whether to accept applications they feel are incomplete, or to leave their freshman classes empty. The problem with this plan is that it jeopardizes the very students I'm trying to protect. So we can't really do that.

How can we send a clear message to admissions offices without ruining higher educational/career paths in a system that will maintain credentialism for some time to come?

Here are some options:

1. Support colleges that have gone test optional.

A growing number of colleges are making the submission of test scores optional. Most are small, private schools - they vary in quality, though some are quite good (think Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, MI and George Washington University in Washington, DC). I'm a firm believer that most students can find at least a backup school in this group, and in some cases may be surprised at how well they would fit at one.

Sending a flood of applications to these schools that allows them to pick the strongest freshman class possible will affirm this decision and inform other colleges considering this move that it will enhance their choices, not limit them. This is a win-win - students get their whole application and whole selves considered, and colleges are rewarded for doing what I will assert is the right thing.

2. Encourage your alma mater to go test optional, or at least to de-emphasize testing.

 

If you are currently a donor to any higher educational institutions, or are considering it, compose an e-mail to University Development sharing your concerns about the use of testing in admissions and scholarships. Choose endowments that don't use test scores or that use them only as a very small part of the decision.

If you are able, join a scholarship committee and push to look at other parts of the application, or volunteer to do admissions interviews for applicants in your geographic region. One reason admissions at many schools uses test scores so much is that it is a quick way to make a decision and feels objective - many offices are overwhelmed and need the ability to essentially reduce the number of applications to examine thoroughly.

3. Support the youth in your life who don't test well by affirming their other accomplishments and advocating for them. 

As I mentioned above, many students feel reduced to numbers. I ask them what they like to do, and based on their ACT/SAT score, they may tell me that they "aren't good" at a subject, when in fact they may even be obtaining proficient scores that are simply lower than their friends' averages.  Some of them have simple anxiety issues, so keeping them calm and reminding them of your unconditional love and support can make a bigger difference than you realize in their high school years (and even their test scores).


This won't change overnight, but it has to change eventually, and there are steps we can take to move it along. Let's band together to shift the focus back toward students as people.