Reflecting on the recentmassive scandal of rigging college acceptances, Valerie Strauss discusses the debate about whether the SAT and ACT are necessary.
Research indicates that a student’s four year record reveals more about his or her college readiness than either of the two big standardized tests.
Wealthy parents have always had advantages, including the ability to pay tutors to help their children.
Now we see that some parents paid to have someone take the test for their childor change the answers from wrong to right.
Fairtest has long kept count of the number of colleges and universities that have gone “test-optional.” The number now exceeds 1,000. The elite University of Chicago joined the list.
One thing is clear: from NCLB To the SAT, American schools place far too much emphasis on standardized tests.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Wealthy parents have always had advantages, including the ability to pay tutors to help their children.”
Not just to pay for tutors, but to lay for test takers.
One of the people caught by the recent FBI investigation was Harvard grad Mark Riddell, who took tests for high school students for six years at $10k a pop.
How many other Mark Riddells are there still out there who did not get caught?
Anyone who believes the answer is none is delusional.
This demonstrates beyond any reasonable doubt that the security of such tests is basically a joke.
How any college admissions official can take these tests at all seriously is a complete mystery
You would have to be pretty darned dumb to do so. Either that or simply dishonest
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Self correct changed “Pay for test takers” to lay for test takers.
Ha ha ha.
The parents paid. The test takers laid
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I believe the proper term for people like Mark Riddell is ” testitute”
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The testitutes
The testitutes
Are in cahoots
With wealthy and their kids
They take the test
And do the best
For thousand dollar bids
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The Testitutes (2)
The parents pay
And takers lay
So don’t delay
It’s testing day!
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I wonder if the remedial college courses are necessary. They’re using a standardized test now and I’m not clear why everyone just seems to blindly accept this measure.
It seems to me to be clearly in the colleges interest to slot students into remedial courses. I’m not accusing them- I’m just saying that swallowing this stat blindly is either really naive or lazy thinking.
Obviously using a test is cheaper and easier than evaluating each student over a range of measures, but is it really “cheaper” if students are paying for courses they don’t need? Wouldn’t it be cheaper to hire more qualified admissions people and actually do an individual, human analysis?
I feel like the ed reform rush to “blame public schools” has led them to some sloppy thinking, including giving colleges a complete pass. I know they like the blaring headline “40% need remedial courses!” but is it really NEED? Says who?
If 40% didn’t “need” remedial courses 20 years ago what changed? Is the argument that public schools are markedly WORSE than 20 years ago? That doesn’t seem to be justified by anything.
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Un-Koch college campuses and the problems would alleviate. Remedial courses are money makers for colleges….keeping kids in college for 5 yrs instead of the usual 4. It’s all in the money making scheme and the top heavy administration. Going to college isn’t much about getting an education….it has become another business transaction that must be satisfied before letting a young adult out into the cruel, hard world that is owned by the wealthy.
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Recall that this scandal also involved submitting applications with fraudulent grade point averages.
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I don’t recall that — I thought transcripts had to be stamped and certified by the high school and (so far) I hadn’t heard that these students’ parents had corrupted high school administrators.
Are you talking about the students who took on-line classes where someone else did the work?
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In Ontario Canada, there are standardized tests in elementary grades plus a math test in grade 9 and a literacy test in grade 10. There is no SAT/ACT type test unless the student wants to go to an American university. The grade 10 test is z graduation requirement however students can try it again each year or take an extra remedial literacy course. The test is at the grade 10 (15 year old) level.
If this is successful, the student goes to post secondary based on course Mark’s.
The universities may put a discount on the grades of any high schools who become notorious for inflated grades.
Canada has the worlds highest % of post secondary grads at 60+% to some extend based on an extensive “community college” system of applied degrees.
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applied degrees that the US is too often lacking
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No Pearson Left Behind (NPLB)
The makers of the test
Will always do their best
To see that it’s designed
They’re never left behind
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What are your thoughts on Imbellus? Just heard about it today, trying to create a system that would replace the SAT/ACT and supposedly focus on deeper learning, transferable skills and real world type problem solving. I’m hesitant to replace one test with another, though at least this isn’t useless rote memorization. https://www.imbellus.com/#/
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Really? You can measure what it means to be human? Give me a break.
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I agree Diane, trying to measure everything to a standard has gotten out of control, but the founder has already gotten multi millions (I think $22 million?) in funding already and is in with the business crowd. I heard her on Bloomberg radio and saw her profile in Forbes so I thought we should be aware of it.
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Imbellus?
Is this one of those puzzles where you rearrange the letters (in this case just the last few) to get a word that sounds (and in this case means) the same?
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Whether or not you think the SAT/ACT is a valid measurement, one thing those tests do not require is “useless rote memorization”.
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I can only speak of the math part, but that does require useless rote memorization of formulas so that you can spit out answers automatically.
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“deeper learning, transferable skills and real world type problem solving. ”
This sounds like a Common Core aligned and inspired bs.
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Yes, whenever someone starts talking about deep anything, you know it’s manure they are referring to.
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SDP, I think it’s time for a manure poem.
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Yes, please put SAT/ACT mandate into a dust bin for good. I cannot stand with a guy named DC.
I see an imminent danger in government’s attempt to promote education reform like business/market scheme. This is not new in the states. I have seen this move in Japan, for a while, but this one raises my eye brows. What’s going on out there is Japan’s education ministry is planning to implement several standardized English tests(i.e, TOEFL, IELTS, TOEIC, CEFR, etc., exams by private firms) for college entrance exam. It’s their bold(yet unpromising) attempt to make drastic change in college admission system starting from 2020.The first two(TOEFL/IELTS) are not developmentally appropriate to student grade(it’s like forcing ESL students to take Pearson’s CC tests. Test fees are very expensive.) Even worse is ministry bureau’s moronic attempt to implement CEFR(which is a rough guideline to evaluate course curriculum, it’s not a test!) for assessment of student’s foreign language ability. Insane like Gates’ CC plan. And the education ministry bureau’s reaction? “Out curriculum guideline is not distant from variety of exams difficulty level(Never mind that their poorly developed curriculum under the guideline sent over hundreds of thousands of students who could not even make simple greetings in English. And I am one of the witnesses who experienced that tragedy a quarter century ago.)
This kind of edu-corporation reform benefits no one but test makers, publishers, prep schools, consultants, and pundits in both big corporations and economic lobbyist. It only captures students of high and mid-income family(up to 10% of entire school-aged children), while the remaining 90% of students will likely be dumped into the Red Sea of moral vacuum. More learning polarization reflecting on family income and poverty. And most of those 10% will likely be burned out after this undying exam ordeal in K-12. Locked in a ‘prison’ like Rikers Island for 3 years before they are prompted to do a months-long job hunting. It’s déjà vu all over again.
Luckily, not all schools are agreeing with this government’s move. I’m very happy to see several schools do not require testing mandate to the applicants. They should resist this government strong-arming for the best interest of students and teachers. Hope there are more schools to join in opt-out.
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The US government has been involved in so called market reform that benefits corporations for a very long time.
The whole “STEM shortage” claim and H1b worker visa scam is based on as much.
See for example
How & Why Government, Universities, & Industry Create Domestic Labor Shortages of Scientists & High-Tech Workers
By Eric Weinstein
https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/how-why-government-universities-industry-create-domestic-labor-shortages-of-scientists-high-tech-workers
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Inkstone is news that comes from Hong Kong. English is mandated in China, even though there is a shortage of teachers. Notice that “English-language tutoring and SAT prep has become a multibillion-dollar business.”
…………………………….
Inkstone answers: why Chinese are learning English and more
byQin Chen and Viola Zhou
So in 1978, the Ministry of Education first suggested English should be taught from the third grade onwards.
In practice, for the next two decades most English-language teaching started in middle school, until in 2001 China made English an official mandatory course, along with Mathematics and Chinese.
In top cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, English courses start at first grade – sometimes even in pre-school. But in smaller cities and towns, access to English education varies, with many starting at a later stage and lacking access to teachers with decent English speaking and writing skills.
At school, students follow a set of textbooks to get the basics.
But for those who aspire to study abroad or work for foreign companies in China, the learning takes place mostly in formal and informal after-school programs.
As a result, English-language tutoring and SAT prep has become a multibillion-dollar industry.
https://inks.tn/gxbyit?utm_source=email&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=share_button
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Carolmalaysia,
Thank you for your posting. Japan is trying to do the similar scheme as China is doing. The government is planning to introduce several English proficiency exams alongside with conventional entrance exam(while they will be changing the name of the exam from next year). This is government’s attempt to privatize public-administered college entrance exam by mandating students to take English language exams for admission procedure within 5 years. What’s behind this move is the collaboration with a big private corporation(named Rakuten, a giant IT company
owned by a billionaire CEO Hiroshi Mikitani), government-affiliated Ed-consulting company named Benesse(director is a former education ministry officer), and a conservative economic lobbyist named Keidanren.
Compared to China, US, and other countries, education market is relatively small. But people are seeing its inception for years. There’s a growing concern over a recent move, since it reckons with political move to Common Core and PARCC.
Mikitani was closely working with Japan’s Education Ministry over adopting English tests for college admission. Through the good office of Keidanren lobbyist, he proposed an adoption of TOEFL iBT. It’s developmentally grade-inappropriate because it’s way too difficult for many students who don’t speak English on a regular basis in Japan.
His company Rakuten also bought out a textbook publishing company. The president is also an employee of Rakuten, named Takashi Katsuragi, who proposed “English as in-house Official Language Policy.” Katsuragi became a key leader for directing Japan MEXT’s English language education reform.
I don’t believe that English education in Japan will become a billion-dollar business, but I have a similar level of concern over the impact of this privatization scheme as much as a ravenous invasion of charters and vouchers in the US. Particularly disturbing is the MEXT’s indifference to clear discrepancy between proposed English exams and their curriculum guidance. TOEFLiBT and IELTS are exams for non-native speakers who plan to study at academic institution or equivalent in English-speaking country. It’s insane to ask students to take them(it’s like PARCC test.) Even a popular TOEIC(a conventional exam scaled down from TOEFL data format, proposed by a Japanese) is not really appropriate to many school-aged children as it forces them to spend 2 hours fielding 200 questions. In facing public criticism, the MEXT responded that “exam’s difficulty level doesn’t deviate from their ‘curriculum guideline.'” That is asinine. It’s tantamount to saying, “our “sacred” guideline is flawed and useless. But we don’t care because exams are exams.”
What’s even worse is MEXT’s reckless attempt to implement CEFR(Common European Framework Reference) for rigorous assessment of student’s performance on exam performance. CEFR is a rough guideline set for general evaluation of curriculum policy or teaching/learning practice. It is not designed for assessing individual performance on communicative practice. Are they following the same path with Gates, Duncan, and CC advocates? Or are they inherently stupid and dumb as DeVos or charter/vouchers zealots?
I suspect that there are some people out there saying that it’s not a big business, so the impact will be small compared to other countries. That is simply no true. Selling out education system to corporate leaders with a hope of cultivating a tiny number of fluent English-speakers among students who are already suffering pain and agony of ineffectual curriculum practice is nothing more than a delusion. The impact is really significant. And it’s really damaging to students, teachers, and schools. It’s deja vu all over again.
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Ken Watanabe: Thank you for your wise comments on what is happening in Japan. I am not familiar with what you wrote but have had two circumstances that I can relate to.
When I was working at the International School of Kuala Lumpur, I was part of 5-6 Americans who went to a recording studio. There was going to be made a book with audio to help Japanese people learn English. We were given a script and went into a sound proof recording booth. We had to reread our parts until it met whatever standard was required. We were told that the Japanese like the sound of American English.
ISKL had one Japanese student whose father’s work was transferred back to Japan. He had to withdraw from my American school and enter the public schools in Japan. This poor fellow didn’t speak or read Japanese very well and found that public schools required a lot of rote memorization. The last I heard was that he was totally miserable.
ISKL was a very good school with lots of resources for the arts, drama, PE, etc.
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ACT and SAT are ridiculous speed tests in math, revealing nothing about the thinking and math abilities of a student.
More generally, the culture of speed tests (when you have to answer 60 questions in 60 minutes) needs to be purged from high schools and colleges. We should learn to appreciate thoughtful answers to questions, not whipped out quick ones.
Speed-test taking ability is unnecessary for 99% of the population.
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Who makes up the 1% for whom speed-test -taking ability is useful?
Politicians?
Oops, that’s speed PAC-cash-taking ability.
My bad.
Then again, the two would seem to be related.
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There certainly are jobs where quick action and thinking is required: ER, pilots, trial lawyers. This ability can be tested, developed and nurtured in specialized higher education programs. We mustn’t design a whole education system around these jobs. Fast calculation in math is not even required for mathematicians.
This whole “whip out answers without thinking” culture is harmful for the general population. Why people put up with it is beyond me.
I wonder when will we get to the point where the underlying philosophy of education will be “Let’s do what’s best serve the children’s interest.”
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yes, clearly
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This was just posted from the WH:
“The Mueller report confirms that the Obama administration, without evidence, turned the surveillance powers of the federal government against the presidential campaign of the party out of power,” James Freeman writes in The Wall Street Journal. “It’s time for Mr. Obama, who oddly receives few mentions in stories about his government’s spying on associates of the 2016 Trump campaign, to say what he knew and did not know about the targeting of his party’s opponents.”
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