Ripple Effects of Dartmouth's SAT Decision
Students’ grades in college prep courses are now the #1 factor in college admissions decisions, I blogged earlier this month. As a former full-time high school teacher AND current SAT tutor, I’m heartened by this trend. The content and skills that high school students can learn set them up for success in college far more than test-taking strategies.
Some lucky students do learn such content and skills. A former AP US History student returned to Horace Mann School during his freshman year. “Yale is easy compared to Horace Mann,” he reported!
Yale University Law School on Wikimedia Commons
As an SAT tutor, though, I see more students whose high schools are not preparing them adequately for college. Nevertheless, their inflated high school grades do not reflect that lack of preparation. In a previous post, I wrote about the awkward conversation I had with one mom. Her son had scored in the 400s on the Math section of the PSAT.
In my experience as an SAT tutor, such a low score isn’t the result of simple test anxiety. Indeed, when the boy and I met one-on-one, he could not perform arithmetic operations commonly accomplished by fifth graders. “But he’s earning A’s in trigonometry,” the mom bemoaned when I broke the bad news.
So, colleges face a conundrum. How can they assess students’ college readiness in light of rampant grade inflation? More and more colleges are answering that question by returning to that classic admissions requirement – scores on the SAT or the ACT.
Last year, MIT was among the first to reinstate test scores as an admission requirement. Other elite universities, like Georgetown and engineering powerhouse Georgia Tech, soon followed suit.
Earlier this month, Dartmouth College became the first member of the Ivy League to reinstate its testing requirement. According to David Leonhardt of The New York Times, "Three Dartmouth economists and a sociologist [found that t]est scores were a better predictor than high school grades — or student essays and teacher recommendations — of how well students would fare at Dartmouth."
Dartmouth College, where the SAT/ACT requirement for applications was reinstated this month (Image from Wikimedia Commons)
Many well-intended bystanders worry that these standardized tests bar or impede admission of students from underserved communities. The research, however, points to the exact opposite conclusion. In 2022, MIT Dean of Admissions Stuart Schmill stated that exams like the SAT and ACT “are most helpful for assisting the admissions office in identifying socioeconomically disadvantaged students.” On January 8, 2024, Schmill reported that “Once we brought the test requirement back, [MIT] admitted the most diverse class that we ever had in our history.”
As an SAT tutor and someone who cares deeply about children, I realize that standardized tests aren’t perfect. They can elicit anxiety in many students. (You can read my thoughts on math anxiety, in particular, here.) But I tend to follow Winston Churchill’s reasoning on democracy when I think about the SAT and ACT. (Churchill famously opined, “democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried.”)
Likewise, in the absence of reliable indicators from schools – i.e., grades – colleges need a reliable standard upon which to gauge students’ ability to thrive at their institutions. Right now, SAT and ACT are the most objective means admissions officers possess to make those difficult decisions.
Is the pendulum beginning to turn back to the SAT? (Image of pendulum from Wikimedia Commons)
The silver lining? Open-minded parents and students can view a low standardized test score as an opportunity. Remediation now, while your child’s still under your roof, will not just pay dividends on the SAT or ACT. Learning SAT and ACT content while in high school can provide your child with the numeracy and literacy skills that they need to survive in college. Learning it through a nurturing, gifted teacher can boost their confidence so they thrive there!
For more information on Crimson Coaching’s test prep services, click here or send me an email.