The Bloomington Faculty Council, the group responsible for academic policy such as university admissions standards, approved a plan Jan. 21 to no longer require students to submit standardized test scores to apply for admission to IU-Bloomington. The new policy will begin August 2020.
This decision serves as an important win for students that will level the playing field for applicants from poorer communities.
The SAT and ACT are the two flagship standardized tests taken by millions of students every year. They are purported to be clear tests of college readiness by many commentators — a statistic that can be used to compare students hailing from radically different backgrounds. Wall Street Journal columnists in 2018 called the information from the tests "invaluable."
But these exams act more as a test of socioeconomic class than academic ability.
One study shows that SAT scores are greatly influenced by the income levels of students’ parents. College Board, the maker of the SAT, released statistics in 2016 showing that students from families earning above $200,000 a year had an average combined score of 1,717, while students from families earning below $20,000 a year had an average combined score of 1,314.
One of the causes of the imbalane is the $1.1 billion test preparation industry which has sprung up around these exams.
Shaan Patel, a former SAT tutor who charged students over $1,000 to earn better scores, wrote in a FOX Business column last year, “I am part of the problem — my SAT prep is only available to families who can afford it. College admissions favor the wealthy, and always have. Affluent parents are willing to pay whatever it takes to help their child get into a good college.”
Though retaking standardized tests improves scores, not all students are equally likely to take these exams multiple times. An upcoming study in the American Economics Journal shows that poorer students are less likely to retake the SAT, even though lower-income students benefit most from retaking in terms of average score increases.
Students can apply to receive accommodations, including extended time on exams, based on Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act. The accommodations can help counteract the effects of test anxiety and learning challenges such as ADHD. However, Wall Street Journal analysis of data from 9,000 public schools found that wealthy schools have more the double the number of 504 accommodations compared to poorer schools.
There’s no reason to believe that ADHD, anxiety and other mental health disorders occur more frequently in wealthy school districts. Instead, the New York Times explained that wealthier communities are more likely to receive treatment for all types for mental illnesses. Test accommodations are no different.
These advantages add up: Most students struggle to finish these exams in the allotted time period, ACT statistics show that taking the exam multiple times leads to higher average scores for most students and a study from Ohio State indicates dedicated coaching yields higher average scores.
All these factors serve to ensure that requiring standardized testing makes the IU community less diverse. IU Provost Lauren Robel seemed to recognize this fact in September when she cited joining the American Talent Initiative, a group of universities aiming to enroll 50,000 additional low and moderate income students by 2025, as the impetus behind the change.
After all, removing these requirements will be a boon to many incoming students who hail from poorer communities. This change helps level the playing field away from those who already enjoy a myriad of advantages.
It comes at a low cost as well.IU found last year that the difference in GPA between students who did and didn’t submit standardized test scores at test-optional institutions was just 0.05%, according to the Herald-Times. The difference in graduation rates between the two groups of students was 0.6%.
Universities have a long way to go in fulfilling their mission to empower and educate people from every walk of life, and not just those born into the means to pave their path. IU’s policy change on standardized testing represents an important step in the right direction, toward true equity for all.
Christian Sayers (he/him) is a senior studying mathematics and economics. He hopes to someday own a large rabbit.
