Shermann The Atlantic Analysis

With college admissions relying so highly on these tests many bright and capable students are getting left with little options (Sternberg 7). These students are facing this because the ACT and SAT primary focus on a narrow segment of skills that are needed to become a person that makes significant differences to the world (Sternberg 7). College’s argue that the admission test give them a quick glimpse of what the students potential is because they do not have to time to individually evaluate each potential student. This may be true but we need a better way to distinguish a person’s abilities than just a simple score on a test.

U.S. News ranks Harvard University as the number one college in the world. Harvard University is also a perfect example of discrimination based on race in that they are bound to a system of quotas. Before covering the racial disparities at Harvard, it must be noted that while the SAT is not a perfect evaluation of students’ abilities, it is still

The extra points given to the students of color is seen to be unfair, fails at creating an economically diverse environment, and sets low expectations for students of color (But Not At This Cost). The does not believe the advantages are fair at all "For example, a perfect SAT

In addition, the SAT and ACT can be considered inaccurate because they are often biased toward certain ethnicities, social classes and genders. Those in favor of these standardized test argue that they are an equal opportunity for all to demonstrate their knowledge and capability, however, this is not the case(“Do Standardized Test” par 10). The ACT is known for being biased toward certain groups of people. “According to ACT research, when all factors are equal, such as course work, grades and family income, Whites still outscore all other groups. If the ACT

Grodsky, Warren, and Felts (2008) researched the complicated relationship between testing and social inequality. They found that some supporters of testing have promoted it at least partly as an solution to rigid class structures. For an example, the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) was designed in part to make top colleges into places for bright young men from all backgrounds, not just the children of the elite. Though, modern critics note that standardized assessments largely reflect socioeconomic status, mainly because students from privileged backgrounds with average scores can increase their results by taking expensive private test preparation courses (Gershon,

Jerome Karabel has explored many areas of the college admissions process and is unhappy with his findings. In his text, “The Battle Over Merit”, Karabel concludes that the college admissions process has to be updated, so that everyone gets a fair and equal chance to get into these institutions. He includes a substantial argument of how college admissions have evolved and has been initially favoring one social group. This justification shows the concept of privilege and a need for inclusion. Karabel believes that race shouldn 't be a factor of change, but socio-economic backgrounds should be a way for students to get help and get into these schools, because they need it the most. He also brings up the idea of power and politics and that the

Working Title: Examining the History of Standardized Tests in Higher Education through a Critical Race Lens and Analyzing Predictors of Graduate School Success among African Americans

In 2011, Jen Wang was finishing up her freshman year at Connecticut College. As a young girl growing up in New Jersey, Jen took her first SAT when she was in the sixth grade, long before other students her age would even start to think about college. Jen said that test preparations for standardized tests, like the SAT, took up most of her free time that could have been used to do other things (Billy). The SAT’s early intent was to open doors of higher education to students without traditional credentials, but now this test is held at high esteem, the biggest indicator of college success (Mulugetta). Although standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT are used to “level the playing field” for students across the country, these tests add little

Misinformation, false and inaccurate information, can not only affect one’s bias but future poor decisions about consequential matters. Many of today’s spread of misinformation derives not only from the reader’s interpretation of the given bias and rhetoric within the sources, but the afterward outspread of this information. In the case of standardized testing, media often portrays it as an unnecessary and overwhelming tool used to equally assess the student population in core subjects. But, the media never shines the light on those who rely on the tests to excel in their classes. In “SAT Scores Helps Colleges Make Better Decisions, Gaston Caperton of the U.S. News and Report argues that SATs indeed gives colleges administrators a fair field

With the creation of affirmative action policy, the election of the United States’ first African American President, and debate concerning reparations for slavery, twenty-first century America appears to have largely disowned its iniquitous history seated in centuries-long mistreatment and intolerance of non-white, minority peoples. Though the overt designs of slavery and Jim Crow no longer mare the American cultural landscape, the covert racist and classist machinations of bygone individual agents and national policies persist—though in lesser forms—within the nation’s paramount cultural institution: its education system. African American and Hispanic students consistently score lower on standardized exams—which determine grade advancement, college admission, and professional success--than white students (Ford).

Standardized tests give students who are better test takers an advantage over those who are not. An American association known as Posse Scholars gives students who excelled in school the opportunity to retake the SAT if their scores were not expected. “Posse Scholars' combined median reading and math SAT score is only 1,050, while the median combined score at the colleges Posse students attend varies from 1,210 to 1,475. Nevertheless, they succeed. Ninety percent of Posse Scholars graduate -- half of them on the dean's list and a quarter with academic honors” (Rosenberg). Posse has a goal of eliminating the gap between students’ scores on the SAT. They choose students all around America who excel in academics but didn’t score exactly how they wanted to have another chance in conquering the test. This way, gaps in SAT scores will be a reflection of a student’s work in school rather than someone choking up on a

Throughout America, members of majority races are denied acceptance into prestigious universities, while often less qualified individuals from minority groups are accepted. Such discrimination that existed in the past remains evident in society today; however, it has been reversed to put historically more advantaged groups at a disadvantage and

The fight for Civil Rights in the United States has had a long history of influencing college admissions decisions, especially at selective colleges and universities. Considering a large racial preference in college admissions in the decades immediately following the Civil Rights Act was acknowledged as important to remedying more than two centuries of racial discrimination. In today’s world, it is generally accepted that having racially and ethnically diverse college campuses is desirable, but the question is how to achieve that objective fairly. Because attaining a college degree is a crucial element in achieving economic mobility, the time has come for class-based preference to become the accepted way to ensure that America’s colleges are lending opportunity to our most vulnerable citizens.

From the rudimentary assessments of the early 1900’s to the multitude of standardized tests used today, black and hispanic students have consistently scored lower than their caucasian and asian counterparts. Although numerous programs have been instituted throughout the years in efforts to counter this truth, many have remained largely unsuccessful. In fact in New York, “black and Latino students score below whites and asians on standardized tests so consistently that although hey are almost 70% of the overall student body, they are only 11% of students enrolled at elite public schools” (Rooks, 2012). Several educational and civil rights groups have filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Education arguing that this obvious discontinuity violates the 1964 Civil Rights Act. If schools rely on tests that are more beneficial for one racial group over another, it would seem that they have missed the true purpose of

56) which becomes a problem for tests like the SAT and many IQ exams because they test things that aren’t specifically taught in a classroom (things that every student that takes them learns in a controlled setting). In choosing what items should be placed on a test from an innumerable number of sources that every student may not have equal access to in their everyday environments, test makers are making the likelihood of bias within their tests extremely high. Methodological bias comes about when “a test assesses mastery of some skill or body of information using a technique or method that underestimates the competence of one group relative to another.” (1998. 56). Some argue that an example of this is when African-American students perform worse when the tester is White but, beyond the Stanford sampling, there is not enough real substantial data for sociologists and educational researchers to put any stock in this theory. Lastly, prediction bias is when a test is meant to predict a student’s future performance. In the case of the SAT, White students tend to outperform African-American students (in regards to cumulative college grades) with the same SAT score. Jencks says that this doesn’t mean that the test is biased against whites but, rather, that they have other advantages besides test scores. Jencks also makes a strong case for the removal of the SAT. Jencks believes that using a test that covers the material learned in secondary school rather than a test like the SAT where all you have to do is go through a manual would be a much better indicator of a student’s performance in college. Testing secondary school material also ensures that the students will have a solid foundation as they must actually gain a deep understanding of the material they