FROM THE GENERAL TO THE SPECIFIC
Notice how this student moves from the general (education, economic opportunity, and equality) to the specific (the SAT test) in this introduction.
Americans have long believed in the role of education in
economic advancement. Yet, we also believe that the
opportunity for such advancement should be equal. And so
we have fused our faith in education as vehicle for self
advancement with a commitment to the democratizing
function of college in creating a society of equal
opportunity. Accordingly, we believe that access to
college -- unlike access to most commodities (say cars or
houses) -- should reflect more than simply one's ability
to pay. Rather, Americans view college admissions
primarily as a function of a student's academic ability.
Indeed, such an understanding informs the "need
blind admissions" policy for which the Ivy League is
justly famous. But an increasingly critical part of the
college acceptance process, the SAT test, is a poor
indicator of a student's academic promise. So inaccurate
is the SAT, in fact, that the continued reliance on the
test calls into question our commitment to higher
education as a means to create a just society.
Equal opportunity in higher education requires an
admissions process which assesses academic merit
accurately and consistently. The SAT, however, does
neither. While all tests of scholastic ability are
imprecise, the SAT is particularly flawed for at least
two reaons. First, countless studies have failed to find
a reliable relationship between SAT scores and
performance in college. While a student's scores may be
an indicator of how well the student is prepared for
standardized tests, the SAT provides little insight into
how well the student will do in college -- the intended
function of the test. Second, the same student taking the
SAT on different days will receive significantly
different scores. The range in scores can be as wide as
seventy points -- sufficient in this age of hightened
compition to mean the difference between acceptance to a
first and second tier school. In short, as an instrument
in the admissions process, the SAT doesn't test for the
right things, and whatever it is that it tests, it does
so inconsistently. |