Thankful to The Hill for publishing a piece that runs against the prevailing anti-test narrative.
When you look at the SAT and ACT, it’s clear that they measure fundamental knowledge and skills necessary for success in college.
Without any standardized measures in the application process, students from schools with more grade inflation have an unfair advantage in college admissions compared to students with less grade inflation but more academic achievement.
And, while most colleges have made test scores optional (though good scores remain beneficial for admission and scholarship opportunities), employers are increasingly requiring job applicants to take standardized exams. No standardized exams to get into college but a vast variety of standardized exams to gain employment is a bad trade-off for students going to college. The standardized exams used in job applications are less transparent, lower quality, and less standardized. And, if the trend continues of employers losing trust in the value of a college degree and instead favoring quantitative measures of verified achievement, the value of a college degree (especially from a test-blind or test-optional college) could become less valuable.
Here is the op-ed, written as Director of Outreach for the National Test Prep Association:
