Another failed experiment in progressive policy is reversed. Who could have guessed?
Inside Higher Ed reports:
Harvard and Caltech Restore Test RequirementsHarvard University and the California Institute of Technology both announced yesterday that they will require standardized test scores starting this fall, returning to pre-pandemic policies.Harvard is replacing a temporary test-optional policy, but Caltech was one of the only institutions to go fully test-blind at the start of the pandemic, meaning that since 2020 it has not considered scores even when they were submitted.Harvard will accept alternatives to the SAT and ACT, such as Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate test scores, but only in “exceptional cases.”The decisions were a sudden about-face for the institutions, both of which had said they would extend their temporary policies for at least one more cycle: Caltech until fall 2025, and Harvard until fall 2026.So why did they elect to reverse course and cement their testing policies now?“What changed is the zeitgeist,” said Harry Feder, executive director of FairTest, a nonprofit advocacy group that opposes standardized testing.Harvard and Caltech’s return to testing mandates follow a wave of other highly selective institutions doing the same, including Yale, Dartmouth and the University of Texas at Austin. Those colleges made their decisions following the publication of new research from the Harvard-based nonprofit Opportunity Insights, which touted test scores’ predictive power of future academic success. That reignited a dormant debate over the benefits of test requirements.Feder believes the research—and the subsequent media blitz covering the revived debate—put pressure on other highly competitive institutions still mulling their post-pandemic testing policies“They were nervous about the competition at their top level of admissions,” he said. “This is not based on some new academic data that takes a deep look into how test-optional has gone for them … it’s about reasserting their commitment to high academic standards, which their peer institutions have clearly established one cannot do without test scores.”
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY