For greater than a century, standardized testing just like the SAT had been a deciding issue on whether or not college students may get into the highest school of their selection. It was not till the COVID-19 pandemic, when many testing facilities closed, that schools rushed to implement test-optional and test-blind insurance policies. The outcomes had been staggering. Ivy League establishments like Cornell, which carried out each insurance policies, noticed an unprecedented surge of purposes in 2020 from nontraditional candidates.
Since then, there was a lot discourse on whether or not standardized testing is a barrier to greater schooling for first-generation college students and college students from backgrounds underrepresented in greater schooling. With greater than 2,000 schools nonetheless test-optional in the present day, we’ve taken a step in the correct path in the direction of bringing extra inclusivity to greater schooling. Some Ivy League schools, nevertheless, have began to require SAT and ACT scores once more after seeing little impression in diversifying their admissions by test-optional insurance policies.
Latest knowledge from SSP Worldwide (SSPI), a nonprofit providing pre-college residential STEM analysis experiences to excessive schoolers, suggests that schools haven’t gone far sufficient to make the admissions course of accessible for marginalized college students. In actual fact, test-optional insurance policies could also be doing extra hurt than good. Whereas test-optional insurance policies have turn into fashionable amongst schools, test-blind insurance policies stay vastly unexplored, with roughly solely 85 schools being test-blind this 12 months out of almost 6,000 establishments.
Earlier than we glance into the information, let’s first differentiate what test-optional and test-blind insurance policies imply.
Check-Non-compulsory vs. Check-Blind
Check-optional signifies that schools don’t require college students to submit their take a look at scores however will nonetheless contemplate the scores within the admissions course of, offering an uneven benefit to college students with entry to tutoring. These college students – who’re much less prone to be from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds – usually tend to report their scores and profit from them. Check-blind signifies that schools don’t take standardized take a look at scores into consideration throughout their admissions course of.
The Case for Check-Blind Insurance policies
SSP Worldwide, which runs the Summer time Science Program, probably the most famend and longest-running summer time STEM packages within the nation, makes use of a cautious however holistic admissions course of that maintains its program’s aggressive edge whereas guaranteeing it stays accessible to college students from underrepresented communities.
In 2024, SSP Worldwide carried out a test-blind coverage for the primary time and later recorded 352 responses from 368 individuals relating to their perceptions of take a look at scores and whether or not they create boundaries when making use of to its program.
The examine discovered that the test-blind coverage inspired extra first-generation and underrepresented highschool college students to use to the Summer time Science Program. When the individuals had been requested if they’d have submitted their take a look at scores if this system was test-optional, first-generation and underrepresented college students reported feeling extra unsure about and fewer prone to submit take a look at scores than their non-first-generation and underrepresented friends, even amongst sturdy take a look at performers who would have in any other case benefitted from submitting their take a look at scores.
One other key discovering was that first-generation and underrepresented respondents had been extra prone to encounter boundaries to taking standardized checks, with 16% of them reporting no boundaries in comparison with 49% of their non-first-generation and underrepresented friends. They reported take a look at prices, lack of entry to preparatory supplies and inadequate time as the highest three boundaries to taking a standardized take a look at.
The information in the end reveals that test-optional insurance policies fall brief in diversifying academia. They put college students traditionally excluded by standardized take a look at boundaries at a much bigger drawback than their non-marginalized friends, who usually tend to submit their take a look at scores. Check-blind not solely brings extra fairness to the admissions course of, nevertheless it positively influences first-generation and underrepresented college students to use to educational alternatives.
Broader Implications
With schools scaling again their DEI initiatives following the top of affirmative motion and the current choices from the present administration, SSPI’s survey outcomes show how admissions insurance policies can meaningfully impression first-generation and underrepresented college students.
SSPI’s knowledge additionally sheds mild on the important want to offer marginalized college students with a socially supportive surroundings that may reinforce their sense of belonging and tender abilities earlier than they graduate from highschool. Emphasis on standardized testing over teamwork and communication is clearly leaving college students from marginalized socioeconomic backgrounds feeling extra remoted and underestimated. By providing alternatives like SSP Worldwide’s Summer time Science Program, we will equip these college students with the abilities and confidence they should goal excessive and compete at prime schools.
When you’re taken with studying extra about SSP Worldwide and its Summer time Science Program, please go to summerscience.org.