It’s Way Past Time to End the Standardized Testing Waiver. With grade-inflation running rampant, standardized tests remain a crucial admissions criterion.

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | January 9, 2023 | Ashlynn Warta

[karpov]

In the midst of the Covid pandemic, the UNC Board of Governors made the decision to take some pressure off potential applicants by implementing an emergency waiver for the System’s standardized testing requirement. Voting in July of 2020, the UNC Board of Governors temporarily waived the testing requirement for 2021’s spring, summer, and fall terms at all UNC-System schools.

Neatly disguised as necessary (since testing centers were closed or canceling tests) and practical (since no at-home testing option was available at the time), this waiver opened the door for future “emergencies” to further diminish standards.

As many expected, in May of 2021, the board voted to extend the “emergency” waiver through spring, summer, and fall of 2022. Taking things a step further, this past April the board once again extended the waiver, this time through fall of 2024.

This standardized testing waiver debacle was preceded by the approval of a pilot program, initiated in fall 2020, that temporarily changes the System-wide minimum admissions requirements. Under this program, the UNC System went from requiring both GPA (2.5 minimum) and SAT/ACT scores (880/17 minimum) to demanding either a 2.5 GPA or an SAT score of 1010 (or an ACT score of 19).

This temporary policy now lasts through 2025; it has been considered controversial and a lowering of standards by some, since students with poor test scores can be admitted if their GPA meets the requireme​​nt. It is perhaps more controversial now due to the standardized testing waiver. The UNC System needs data that compare students’ GPAs, test scores, and graduation rates in order to determine if this is a good admissions policy. However, it is unlikely that the System will have those data, since it has waived the testing requirement for four of the five years of the pilot.

[karpov]

If student loans were privatized, lenders would offer lower rates to borrowers with higher test scores, since they are more likely to graduate and get good jobs. Federal student loans give everyone the same interest rate and subsidize the worst students.

[AndyJackson]

But this misses the whole point. Ivy League graduates get good jobs because they have degrees from Ivy League schools and so the schools determine who gets ahead. If you have standardized tests, then it is up to presonal capability and willingness to work, taking it entirely out of the hands of those who want arbitrary and capricious standards.

You have to go to an Ivy League school to get an Ivy League degree. You don't have to go to an Ivy Leaguse school to be smart or be worth a shit and in fact, anymore, it seems to be inversely correlated.

[4Liberty]

+1 👍

[rockvillem]

It’s a complete lost cause at this point. Back in “the day”, standardized tests were a legitimately objective test of potential ability. SAT scores were highly correlated to academic achievement. We can’t have THAT! :) Merit versus tribal identity - get out of here!!!!

[GaryCrow]

Standardized testing makes it harder to justify admitting minorities with significantly lower test scores than the whites they displace. That’s the real reason they want to do away with it. They basically want to make all admissions based upon race or special interest group.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

All it takes is one university to substantially *raise* their entry requirements, and letting it be known that they are a difficult school to get into. While there are a finite number of top students, there are a lot of students and parents willing to work hard for prestige.

It would almost have to be a private college or university, even if a majority of their students are Asian.

[6thavenue]

In England, the testing for university admissions is based on your knowledge and mastery of the subjects you’ve studied in high school.

In US, the “standardized tests” involve word matching and “spot the patterns” and other mental games concocted by a faceless bureaucracy known as the “testing board”. It’s possible to be deeply ignorant of history, literature, economics and philosophy and still show up as a Whiz on the SAT. I don’t see any great need to return to return to those mental games.

[Macoozie]

“With grade-inflation running rampant, standardized tests remain a crucial admissions criterion.”
Agreed

And it’s the poor kid from a crap D-Rat run High School that gets it in the keister with this one.

Hellhole all around. Keeps his head down, in the books.
Gets blowout scores on SAT/ACT.

Now schools are Test Optional so he gets nothing for all that hard work.

[ActresponsiblyinVA]

Other than athletics is there anything based on merit anymore in colleges/universities?

[Gay State Conservative]

I want my doctors,mt electrician and others to pass every damn exam possible before they work for me.