Every year during the college application
process, juniors and seniors across the country stress over their scores on the
SAT and ACT. Whether they test well or not, students worry since they know
these scores are an important part of the college application process.
For many years now, researchers have questioned the fairness of these
exams and whether these tests are valid in predicting how students will perform
in college.
Earlier this week at a conference in Tulsa, OK,
for heads of school from across the Southwest, I heard a thought-provoking and
fascinating presentation by William Hiss, former Dean of Admissions at Bates
College in Lewiston, Maine. Hiss and his colleague, Valerie Franks, who also
worked at Bates, conducted an extensive study of the cumulative GPAs of
four-year college graduates that compared two groups—students who submitted
test scores and students who did not (hereafter referred to as
non-submitters)—at test-optional schools. After years of studying a total
of 33 institutions with 122,916 student records and nearly five million pieces
of data, Hiss offered the following principal findings in his presentation:
1. There were no significant differences in cumulative GPAs and four-year
graduation rates between submitters and non-submitters. The difference in
graduation rates is approximately six tenths of 1% and the difference in
four-year college GPAs is five/one-hundredths of a point.
2.
Hard work and good
grades in high school contribute a great deal to college academic success. In
fact, the greatest predictor of college students’ grades is their high school
grades.
3.
Non-submitter
populations are more likely to be first-generation college attendees, minority
students, Pell Grant recipients, students with learning differences, and
females. They are also more likely to be STEM majors at public universities.
4.
College admission
decisions can be made just as reliably without looking at test results.
5.
There is a bimodal curve
(the graphed curve is high at both ends with a dip in the middle) when looking
at non-submitting students from a financial perspective. Affluent
students, as well as young men and women from lower socioeconomic groups, can
be non-submitters of test results. In some cases, this may be due to the
strong college counseling available for students in independent and private
schools that informs students about test-optional colleges and universities.
6.
Learning-differentiated
students are more likely to apply to college as non-submitters. In addition,
they may typically apply early, are just as likely to do well, and tend to
graduate at a rate similar to students who submitted test results.
7.
Unfortunately, all too
often, non-submitters may be
commonly missed in consideration for merit awards despite having better GPAs in
high school.
8.
For colleges, having
test-optional policies in admissions can be beneficial since non-submitters
expand applicant pools, broaden geographic appeal, and increase the number of
early applications.
