Pitzer College Eliminating Entrance Exams in the Name of Equity
“Being test-blind means scores from standardized college entrance tests—the SAT and ACT—will be eliminated from the admission review process entirely”
How many schools are really doing this to lower standards because they’re worried about lower enrollment?
Campus Reform reports:
Pitzer College to go ‘test-blind’ in order to send ‘strong message’ about ‘equity’
Pitzer College in California has adopted a “test-blind” admission policy, meaning that standardized tests including the SAT and ACT “will be eliminated from the admission review process entirely.”
According to a June 8 press release, the college will be adopting this new “test-blind” policy beginning in the admission cycle for fall 2022.
“Being test-blind means scores from standardized college entrance tests—the SAT and ACT—will be eliminated from the admission review process entirely,” the press release states.
Yvonne Berumen, the vice president for admission and financial aid at Pitzer College, said in the press release that “The elimination of standardized test scores from our review process entirely has the potential to send a strong message about equity, access, inclusivity, and excellence.”
Previously, Pitzer College was “test-optional,” meaning that “applicants could decide whether they wanted to submit SAT or ACT scores as part of their application package.”
The press release states that their reasoning for the new policy is because “scores on standardized tests reflect socio-economic privilege more than college preparedness.” As a result of the new policy, Pitzer College will now take a more “holistic” approach at applications, “looking at applicants within the context of their school and community.”
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Comments
For those approaching graduation, their degrees just became worthless.
Now they don’t have to report average SAT scores. So you go test-optional when you need to boost them, because now only students with good SAT scores will submit them, but you can admit some students with bad SAT scores and not hurt the average. When even this doesn’t produce a decent average, you go test-blind and don’t report an average SAT at all.
I would have thought Pitzer, one of the Claremont Colleges, was above the line of schools needing to do this. But Hampshire College, a member of the (otherwise) elite Five College Consortium in central Massachusetts, almost closed due to lack of students a couple years ago, and the economic landscape for quasi-elite liberal arts colleges probably hasn’t gotten better.
“The elimination of standardized test scores from our review process entirely has the potential to send a strong message about … excellence”
It does, but probably not the message they think they’re sending.
It’s the message that “excellence” is related to “equity”, not SAT scores. You can find a million links to their concept of “equity and excellence”.
Yet another word redefined.
I wonder i they’ll admit the young man from Baltimore who was in the top of his class with a .0.5 GPA???
Oh, goody, It’s high school all over again.