Lyang is a graduate of UC San Diego in physiology and neuroscience. She recently moved from University City and now lives in San Francisco.
Standardized tests have long been under scrutiny for claims of bias against students of color and of disadvantaged income. The COVID-19 pandemic further threw this issue into the spotlight when many testing opportunities were canceled, creating a disparity in opportunities for applicants.
Colleges were aware of this; many responded by creating “test-blind” or “test-optional” application cycles, where students did not have to submit a test score concurrent with their application. For many colleges, these changes are temporary, a reaction to the pandemic that continues even now during the fall 2021 college application cycle. However, for the University of California system, this change in admissions criteria is here to stay.
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In May 2020, the UC Board of Regents voted to suspend requiring the ACT and SAT standardized tests for California freshman applicants in admissions acceptance criteria until 2024 to allow the creation of a new standardized test. Then this month, the UC system announced it was unable to find a suitable replacement for the SAT and ACT. UC Provost Michael Brown explained that if another test were to be created and deemed to be suitable, the UC system “certainly could consider adopting such a thing in the future, but we’re not developing one, and we don’t know of one that exists at this time.”
I have two main issues with this change. The first: The UC presents its plan as either relying on a new standardized test that doesn’t exist yet, or not relying on it. This seems like a nonanswer — of course, the only options are to either use standardized testing or to not use it. There is no in-between in this situation. I understand that the UC board is trying to be flexible, but I’d like to see the board wholly support one decision, without giving itself such wide leeway and leaving such a gray area.
There are implications for either route — if this future test is implemented, then the students who have been caught between the phase-out of the previous SAT/ACT and the phase-in of the new test will have been subjected to completely different criteria than applicants of other years, creating a further disparity between potential students. If UC doesn’t, then what would have been the point of this back and forth? Resources and budget misspent on creating a test that doesn’t come to fruition could have instead been invested into faculty and students who so desperately need it.
My second issue with this admissions change: I don’t see how being “test blind” is something that would create equity — students with a test score have a more robust application than students who do not. Those without will be disproportionately hurt, as UC states that submitted standardized test scores will be used for other decisions, such as scholarship distributions.
Scholarships often play a large role in a student’s decision whether to attend a university or not, which doesn’t fully separate standardized tests from playing a role in admission decisions. If we assume a higher test score lands a student a larger scholarship, the issue still exists. Disadvantaged students don’t have the luxury of spending exorbitant amounts of money on test prep classes and books that higher income students may have, translating into a lower score and scholarship, perpetuating the issue, just through a different mechanism.
While I’d like to think that standardized testing creates opportunities for students to show their college readiness, it can’t be denied that the test has been shown to be a better indicator of social capital than aptitude. I’m worried that a new test would be subjected to the same fallacies that the SAT and ACT have been, disadvantaging students of color.
If only the tests’ content are to be changed, what’s stopping advantaged students from continuing to reap their socioeconomic benefits? The College Board itself insists that the variance in test scores is due to differences in preparation and not intrinsic test biases (although research also shows otherwise). Even if such is taken to be true, it makes sense to me that issues associated with the current SAT and ACT will continue to persist with any new test, no matter how the content changes.
Even with the bumps in the road, I’m hopeful for future students and wish them good luck. Only time will tell how these changes will affect their experiences. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in the next few years, but I’m sure that the University of California won’t be receiving any shortage of applications due to this change.
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Opinion: Standardized college tests still pose problems for the UC system - The San Diego Union-Tribune
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