This isn't being done because not enough whites and Asians meet admissions standards:
The University of California won't consider SAT and ACT scores that are submitted with admission and scholarship applications under a settlement of a student lawsuit.
The agreement was announced Friday. The 10-campus system, which has more than 280,000 students statewide, decided not to continue fighting a judge's injunction issued last fall that barred it from considering the scores for admission even when they were submitted voluntarily.
The Board of Regents already had voted to drop the SAT and ACT tests as admission requirements through 2024. Activists have long argued that standardized tests put minority and low-income students at a disadvantage.
From UC's own task force: "At UC, test scores are currently better predictors of first-year GPA than high school grade point average (HSGPA), and about as good at predicting first-year retention, UGPA, and graduation."
ReplyDeleteFrom the same report: "test scores are better predictors of success for students who are Underrepresented Minority students (URMs), who are first-generation, or whose families are low-income: that is, test scores explain more of the variance in UGPA and completion rates for students in these groups."
Quotes in context:
The STTF found that standardized test scores aid in predicting important aspects of student success, including undergraduate grade point average (UGPA), retention, and completion. At UC, test scores are currently better predictors of first-year GPA than high school grade point average (HSGPA), and about as good at predicting first-year retention, UGPA, and graduation. For students within any given (HSGPA) band, higher standardized test scores correlate with a higher freshman UGPA, a higher graduation UGPA, and higher likelihood of graduating within either four years (for transfers) or seven years (for freshmen). Further, the amount of variance in student outcomes explained by test scores has increased since 2007, while variance explained by high school grades has decreased, although altogether does not exceed 26%. Test scores are predictive for all demographic groups and disciplines, even after controlling for HSGPA. In fact, test scores are better predictors of success for students who are Underrepresented Minority students (URMs), who are first-generation, or whose families are low-income: that is, test scores explain more of the variance in UGPA and completion rates for students in these groups. One consequence of dropping test scores would be increased reliance on HSGPA in admissions. The STTF found that California high schools vary greatly in grading standards, and that grade inflation is part of why the predictive power of HSGPA has decreased since the last UC study.
https://senate.ucsd.edu/media/424154/sttf-report-rev-2-14-20.pdf
The SAT, trying to create excuses for students who didn't test well, added an essay portion to the exam. Instead of giving students an outlet for their own "voices", the essays revealed a lack of understanding of basic writing concepts, grammar, spelling and a related inability to comprehend the prompts offered. This revealed far MORE problems than the previous multiple choice AP and SAT exams exposed. For too many years College Board has limited vocabulary, simplified questions and relied on in school coaching to gloss over the inadequacies of current systems. The thing is a test, honestly written and fairly administered should show which kids are capable of college level work and which ones are not. Instead the PR oriented politicians and educrats simply want the superficial blessing of SAT or AP accolades without the students doing the work required.
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