Posted on 05/18/2020 7:00:10 AM PDT by karpov
As higher education braces for the impact of coronavirus, the nation’s largest university system is poised to undermine the value of its own degrees by dropping admissions testing for political reasons.
Last week University of California President Janet Napolitano released a plan to stop using the SAT and ACT in admissions. The tests would be optional for freshmen applying to enter in 2022 and excluded except in certain circumstances for 2023 and 2024. Ms. Napolitano hopes the university can create its own test for 2025, but even if that’s not possible she wants the tests scrapped entirely from then on.
The math and reading tests have faced escalating attacks from progressives because black and Hispanic students score lower than whites and Asians on average, and one activist group sued the UC late last year. Yet an exhaustive UC faculty senate report, commissioned by Ms. Napolitano and released this year, found the tests aren’t discriminatory and play an important role in protecting educational quality.
Surveying data from tens of thousands of students, the commission found the SAT and ACT “add substantially to UC’s ability to predict student success” beyond high school grades, especially for minority groups. It said UC “does not appear to use standardized test scores in a way that amplifies racial disparities.”
The report found the top obstacle for minority students is not testing but failing to complete required high-school courses. It also suggested that worsening grade inflation, especially at wealthy high schools, makes an objective assessment especially important.
The progressive UC faculty are not indifferent to the prospects of disadvantaged Californians. The committee scrutinized the data for evidence of bias. Yet test gaps reflect differences in levels of preparedness, exacerbated by California’s unaccountable K-12 public schools. Faculty have an interest in ensuring the students they teach are prepared.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Dropping the SAT and ACT? So what? Skin color already outweighed those scores anyway, didn’t it?
Too many Asian students? Too few from more favored minorities?
California wants additional Revenue. ACT and SAT have known about this threat for a long time and have tried to diversify their offerings
Well, the one benefit from the pandemic is that make-work office jobs for pseudo-educated affirmative action graduates are going to dry up - fast.
Democrats want to dumb down society to the level of their obedient, easily controlled constituents.
Back when I was applying for college, the UC system, on paper, accepted the top 1/8 of HS grads, the state college system the top 1/4 and the city/community college system any HS grad. Somewhat foolishly I only applied to UC even though my HS GPA was something like 2.9. But I was good at standardized tests and got in with my SAT scores. My rejection and acceptance letters arrived within a week of each other. Graduated in four years which was pretty standard for the time, but is somewhat exceptional now.
Every applicant should claim “Native American” background.
Let the universities choke on their racism.
I have taught for 16 years here in Los Angeles and this is my last year. My employment terminates June 30. I just cannot take it any more. A huge chunk of the kids who can’t read are designated Special Ed, and if you fail them and they have litigious parents, look out. The pressure to just pass as many kids as you can is immense. And the prevailing attitude of administration is, if that child didn’t pass, what did you do wrong? His IEP says he gets preferential seating, so did you put him in the front row? What? You have 12 Sped kids in that class and only 6 front row seats? Well, put them all in the first two ro— what? Our last PD said not to put them all together or they just screw around all period? Well, I know it’s difficult but you have to find a way to make sure you’re following 12 different IEPs and differentiating for them plus the regular students and any gifted ones. Do you need some more training or time to work on your lesson plans? How about Saturday? You learn to pass any kids who do a modicum of work. And if testing shows they can’t read past the 2nd grade level, well, they are Special Ed, it’s not their fault! You can’t discriminate against them based on their disability! That’s illegal! The whole thing is a farce and I am out. I have 4 more weeks to go and then I am leaving California.
Unreal.
Wow! Thank you for your real-life report from the front lines. It must be immensely frustrating for teachers who really want to educate kids to have to work in such a situation with such unmotivated kids.
And the kids know it, by the way. So the Honors students, who are not necessarily gifted, but are hard working and cooperative, about 70% of them are still trying. (And literally, a 9th grade Honors student in L.A. means a kid who can read at 6th grade level, turns in all her work, and doesn't start fires.) But the rest of them? About 70% seem to have vanished. They could have left the country for all I know. But if they had a bare 70% in March (and you should see the contortions I have to go through to coax even that much out of them) then they are passing in June. Period.
It's such a relief to my mind and my digestive system that I am quitting. I can't believe I have operated in this fiasco for 16 years.
Absent a selection mechanism, many underqualified will
be admitted and die a rapid death when mixed with the
cut throat high performers. The coddling is over a week into the first quarter. Darwinian academics. Perform or GTFO.
Revelle, UCSD grad here. Started Jan 1974, graduated June 1976. Age 19. BA Molecular Biology, minor Psychology, language proficiency in German (SAT II written plus orals with a German grad student). 18 to 22 units every quarter. Summer quarter was 12 for lack of options.
I have a classmate teaching 5th grade in LAUSD. A nightmare.
She is ready to wrap it up as well. Good luck on your exit.
People who aren’t in education have no idea how bad things are. Special Ed/IEP students have first call on a district’s resources. If regular classroom teachers have to be let go to provide for the special ed kid’s needs, so be it. The law requires that they be educated in the least restrictive way possible. That means they have to be in the regular classroom as much as possible, no matter how disruptive they are. Tourette’s syndrome where they shout whatever comes to mind—too bad. Oppositional Defiance Disorder, where they don’t like to do what they’re told, you have to cope with it. The fact that none of the normal kids in the class have a prayer of learning anything is beside the point. The IEP kids come first.
Good luck. Hope you find a better state!
We had a special program at the time (1960s) that encouraged one to take and pass 15 hours per quarter/semester. It was called the draft. If you weren’t on track to graduate in 4 years, you might get inducted.
For freshmen an added wrinkle was the UC system had a test to see if you could write at the college level. If you failed, you had to take a class called ‘Subject A’. It cost extra, and more importantly, you got no credit. You had to pass the class before you could take the required English courses. But the ‘no credit’ part meant you could be vulnerable to being called up.
Yep. And I'm pretty sure it has to do with litigious parents. I've met a couple. We had an autistic boy that freaked out and got violent, more than once. And he was 14 and getting tall. It was bad. I'm so relieved to be getting out. It's a mad house.
So send the minority kids on to college without the required high school courses. That's smart.
“...litigious parents.”
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