In a revelation that should be surprising to no one, elite colleges are starting to acknowledge that standardized exams are predictive and have value. Dartmouth, a member of the storied Ivy League, recently announced that it will reinstate mandatory submission of the SAT and ACT exams for future classes.
The elite university denies the standard progressive criticism that the exams disadvantage the poor. Instead, Dartmouth argues that the absence of standardized exams made the task of identifying prepared low-income students much more difficult.
In making its decision, Dartmouth cited a study from its own economists that found “test scores represent an especially valuable tool to identify high-achieving applicants from low and middle-income backgrounds; who are first-generation college-bound; as well as students from urban and rural backgrounds.”
“It is also an important tool as we meet applicants from under-resourced or less familiar high schools across the increasingly wide geography of our applicant pool,” the announcement continued. “That is, contrary to what some have perceived, standardized testing allows us to admit a broader and more diverse range of students.”
In other words, in an academic landscape where standards vary widely among high schools, standardized test scores allow applicants from obscure backgrounds a chance to prove their ability to handle a rigorous college. Everyone knows what a 4.0 GPA from Phillips Academy at Andover, Harvard-Westlake, or Dalton School means. On the other hand, who knows what a perfect GPA from a public school in Baltimore or Barnesville, Ohio, means?
Moreover, Dartmouth’s internal research rebutted the standard anti-testing talking point that high school GPA better predicts college performance than the SAT.
“SAT and ACT scores are highly predictive of academic performance at Dartmouth,” the study said. “This is consistent with previous research.”
Studies show that high school grades are increasing while test scores have stagnated, indicating significant grade inflation. Since students who haven’t demonstrably mastered the material manage to receive As, high school GPA has dramatically weakened as a signal for admissions purposes.
With this decision, Dartmouth joins the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Georgetown as the other two elite schools to reinstate the standardized test mandate. By the looks of it, other schools may be coming back to the fold. Reports claim that Yale and Brown are strongly considering reinstating the exams.
Jeremiah Quinlan, Yale dean of admissions, candidly admitted on the Admissions Beat podcast that he favors submitting standardized test scores, confessing that he assumes test-optional applicants have scores lower than the university’s median (a perfectly rational assumption).
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Over the past summer, Brown University President Christina Paxson penned an article for the university magazine, ruminating on test-optional admissions. Paxson revealed that a Brown faculty member crunched data on the matter and came to nearly identical conclusions as Dartmouth: standardized tests are highly predictive of college performance, and grades are a weakened signal due to rampant inflation.
It finally seems like universities are starting to accept a reality that was always obvious in the first place: standards matter.
Corey Walker is a Washington, D.C.-based reporter who focuses on institutional capture, education, and public safety.