Addressing False Narratives

(A. Solano)

Failing to challenge false narratives only helps to perpetuate claims made without evidence. For example, a claim I’ve heard recently is that since eliminating the SAT/ACT, virtually all university freshmen are dropping out. This claim was made about universities in general, and they highlighted UCLA and UC Irvine, but then I checked the data. Another example is Dartmouth College’s recent laughable, but sad rationale to reinstate the SAT/ACT because their internal “research” shows they would effectively be more equitable for low-income students. Also, some community college educators can't seem to wean themselves off their English and math placement test addiction despite rigorous evidence against these inequity-producing tests.

In terms of UCLA, freshmen retention rates:
SAT/ACT was eliminated in 2020.
2021-22: 95.6%
2022-23: 96.5%

Two years before the SAT/ACT was eliminated.
Freshmen retention rates:
2019-20: 95.5%
2020-21: 96.9%

(Source)

The same claim was made about the University of California, Irvine. Again, I checked the data:

UCI freshmen retention rates:
SAT/ACT was eliminated in 2020.
2021-22: 91.3%
2022-23: 93:8%

Two years before the SAT/ACT was eliminated.
Freshman retention rates:
2019-20: 94.4%
2020-21: 93.5%

(Source)

That data shows that testing proponents spread false narratives, but for the sake of equity, they can't be left unchallenged.

Some people--educators of all people--are still making the case that the SAT/ACT is essentially an “equalizer.” Nonsense. Jon Boeckenstedt, for example, laid it out beautifully in the ACT chart below.

(Source)

As Jon states, "High scores are at the top; high income is red, and the progression of incomes should not be hard to figure out. Do you notice a trend?"

The lower the income, the lower the standardized test scores. Low-income students receiving high scores are in the tremendously low minority. And this chart doesn't even highlight neurodivergent (e.g., ADHD) students, many who would be brilliant students in highly rejective universities such as Harvard University and Stanford University, but don't do well on high-stakes standardized tests despite having perfect or near-perfect GPAs.

These tests tell universities who are resource-rich students (good K12 experience, parents who could afford tutors, test prep, etc.). Resource-rich and/or gifted students have the best shot at getting in and staying at a so-called elite university, regardless of the quality of teaching. The teaching could be horrible, but these students have the social capital to succeed on their own.

I'm grateful students don't need the SAT/ACT to get into community college, nor has it been required to transfer at most institutions like UCLA or UC Berkeley, and that more and more high school students can now opt to take community college dual enrollment courses instead of AP courses (which, depending on the score, are not accepted equally by all universities).

Remember that institutional conservatives will continue to fight. For example, I know of community college educators who want to bring back English and math placement tests despite every credible research showing it's a stupendously horrible idea. A comprehensive literature review by Columbia University's Community College Research Center includes citations from the most authoritative studies that developmental ed reform works! (Source). Students of color, for example, are completing transfer-level English and math than ever before! Fortunately, they're in the minority, but unfortunately, it only takes a few influential people to sabotage the equity work.

Fight back with data.

Turning to Dartmouth, a member of the Ivy League. Dartmouth College's internal "examination" into the merits of standardized tests led them to reinstate the SAT/ACT. Dartmouth's president, Sian Leah Beilock, stated on LinkedIn that, “A standardized test score doesn’t—and shouldn’t—dictate our admissions decisions, but it should inform those decisions." They revealed that they don't admit sufficient low-income students without standardized test scores. How can that be? Highly selective institutions like UC Berkeley & UCLA didn't require the SAT/ACT for decades for community college transfer students. It took a pandemic for these institutions to realize they didn't need inequitable tests for high school students either. What kind of culture exists at Dartmouth where they don't know how to admit sufficient low-income students without a test score? Dartmouth may ignite a dangerous and stupid trend. I hope the UC's don't follow that backwards trend because they already know how to admit low-income students without a test score. 

As I’ve stated before, far from evening the playing field, these tests have for decades exacerbated inequalities, placing poor and working-class students at a disadvantage, forcing them to compete in a grassy uphill, in sneakers, and without proper coaching, while their affluent counterparts enjoy the downhill side, equipped with cleats, and elite coaching. Dartmouth is saying they don't know how to admit sufficient low-income students without making them go uphill.

Again, fight back with data. If we don’t, we will continue to allow College Board lackeys to reverse positive trends in equitable student access and completion. As Public Enemy used to say, “Don’t, don’t, don’t believe the hype, it’s a sequel!”

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