When the Test Results are not what you Want

[DGS49]

Much of the harm to American education comes in the form of reactions to one thing: The Powers that Be decide that they do not like the results of the test(s).

Obviously, the people who publish the tests - whether you are talking about individual teachers or large professional organizations - take serious measures to confirm that their test:

• Is reliable - that it truly tests what it is supposed to test,
• Is repeatable - that if it is administered multiple times, it will yield approximately the same result, and
• Is not biased in some way that favors some test takers over others.

But in the world of America's public schools and colleges, some test results are considered evil. Because they reveal that it is consistently true that Asians and Jews score at the top, American Caucasians score in the middle, Hispanics score well-below average, and African-Americans score at the bottom. Obviously, this is not true for every individual; individual results can be anywhere on the chart, but as for averages by group, these results are persistent, year after year and generation after generation.

The SAT (and ACT) have come in for particularly vicious criticisms over time. First they were accused of being "not relevant." That is, it was said that SAT results were not good predictors of college performance. Some adjustments were made, some caveats were released, but then it became apparent (and remains apparent) that they pretty much DO predict college performance pretty well.

Then they said that the tests were "culturally biased." Well, there was a tiny bit of truth in that, and the biases were immediately excised from the tests. Remember that the people who compose these tests are generally Leftists, just like the critics. But they are Leftists with principles.

But the uncomfortable results persist. So now, more and more colleges are saying that they won't require SAT/ACT's, or they won't count them, or that they won't count them as much as previously.

How's that again? We have these tests that have evolved over GENERATIONS to be the most accurate predictor of college performance imaginable (for a one-day thing), a tool that, together with other rational analysis can tell the colleges pretty much how the applicant will perform. But the colleges FORMALLY, OFFICIALLY DON'T WANT TO KNOW THAT!

They want to pretend that other things are MORE IMPORTANT than how the individual applicants are likely to perform in college. So in order to accommodate the fact that they are knowingly going to accept sub-par students, they provide remedial classes, easier coursework, watered down majors, and subjective grading.

And they wonder why a college degree is worth less and less as time goes by.

I think we are all bozos on this bus.

 

[TheParser]

This is, of course, a very sensitive and hurtful topic.

Maybe colleges have no choice but to stop the SATs.

Just think how one must feel if s/he is identified as belonging to a group that -- generally speaking -- cannot hack it on tests.

Here in California, for example, they are going to have to change or drop the math part of the test that is needed to become a school teacher. Two groups of people seem to have an extremely hard time with it, and those two groups are exactly the people whom the state wants as future teachers.

This is 2020. The United States is changing rapidly. Let anyone into college. Some will do well, and others not so well. They may drop out. Of course, professors even now are under pressure to be "generous" in their grading so that as many people as possible can get a college degree.

Hopefully, the colleges will hold the line when it comes to important fields, such as medicine, science, etc.

 

[Mac-7]

Much of the harm to American education comes in the form of reactions to one thing: The Powers that Be decide that they do not like the results of the test(s).

Obviously, the people who publish the tests - whether you are talking about individual teachers or large professional organizations - take serious measures to confirm that their test:

• Is reliable - that it truly tests what it is supposed to test,
• Is repeatable - that if it is administered multiple times, it will yield approximately the same result, and
• Is not biased in some way that favors some test takers over others.

But in the world of America's public schools and colleges, some test results are considered evil. Because they reveal that it is consistently true that Asians and Jews score at the top, American Caucasians score in the middle, Hispanics score well-below average, and African-Americans score at the bottom. Obviously, this is not true for every individual; individual results can be anywhere on the chart, but as for averages by group, these results are persistent, year after year and generation after generation.

The SAT (and ACT) have come in for particularly vicious criticisms over time. First they were accused of being "not relevant." That is, it was said that SAT results were not good predictors of college performance. Some adjustments were made, some caveats were released, but then it became apparent (and remains apparent) that they pretty much DO predict college performance pretty well.

Then they said that the tests were "culturally biased." Well, there was a tiny bit of truth in that, and the biases were immediately excised from the tests. Remember that the people who compose these tests are generally Leftists, just like the critics. But they are Leftists with principles.

But the uncomfortable results persist. So now, more and more colleges are saying that they won't require SAT/ACT's, or they won't count them, or that they won't count them as much as previously.

How's that again? We have these tests that have evolved over GENERATIONS to be the most accurate predictor of college performance imaginable (for a one-day thing), a tool that, together with other rational analysis can tell the colleges pretty much how the applicant will perform. But the colleges FORMALLY, OFFICIALLY DON'T WANT TO KNOW THAT!

They want to pretend that other things are MORE IMPORTANT than how the individual applicants are likely to perform in college. So in order to accommodate the fact that they are knowingly going to accept sub-par students, they provide remedial classes, easier coursework, watered down majors, and subjective grading.

And they wonder why a college degree is worth less and less as time goes by.

I think we are all bozos on this bus.

The colleges are as mercenary and greedy as any Wall Street banker

they just want to fatten their wallets