Many educators, including Rebecca Zwick, the former chair of TheCollege Board's SAT committee and a professor at the University ofCalifornia, Santa Barbara, believe a socioeconomic bias exists instandardized testing. Randy Hyman, the associate vice president forstudent services at Ball State University, doesn't subscribe to theidea. But he said, "You could argue that students who go to highschool in school districts that are not heavily resourced, ...regardless of their academic potential, aren't going to score aswell on standardized tests as students who have had the advantagesof new labs, great equipment and great resources."
But the object of this scrutiny -- the SAT -- is now changing.Starting in 2005, the "New SAT" will be introduced for thosestudents in the class of 2006 to take. Writers of the new test willabandon analogies and quantitative comparisons from the currentSAT; they are adding Algebra II content and a writing section thatrequires an essay.
All in all, Gaston Caperton III, president of The College Board,means for the test's additions and deletions to reform curricula inU.S. high schools. He believes by changing what students are testedon, he will change what students are taught.
But, traditionally, the SAT has been a reasoning-based, oraptitude, test. As it changes into an achievement test that willmeasure what teachers teach instead of what students know, someeducators and SAT opponents, like Zwick, are worried it willpronounce the obvious socioeconomic differences in secondaryschools.
But with the addition of the writing section, the new test hasthe potential to help minority and disadvantaged students. Becauseminorities often record higher scores on writing sections comparedwith other sections, their overall scores will likely increase.
Larry Waters, dean of admissions and enrollment services at BallState, said the writing section should help minority studentsachieve higher relative scores. Contrary to Zwick, he said he doesnot anticipate the new test perpetuating any disadvantages thatmight exist in a school's preparatory resources.
Because the writing section has been added, minority studentscan, theoretically, score as well, or better, than they have in thepast. Even if a bias exists, the test's changes seem to give them achance to defeat it. Waters and his admissions office can persuadeIndiana's poorer high schools to use this information as a positivespringboard, pushing their students to take advantage of the freeresource materials The College Board said it would offer. Accordingto the board's literature, one of the best ways to prepare for thetest is to read heavily. If a school can't offer its students anadvanced SAT-preparatory course or allot them personal testcoaches, they can certainly point them to the library, where freepractice tests, relevant novels and SAT guidebooks abound.
The test's changes alone will not ruin minority students'chances of admittance into colleges like Ball State; Waters saidthey might help. So Indiana's high schools -- economicallydisadvantaged or not -- now have a great incentive to prepare theirminority students for the "New SAT." Schools do have options; it'sup to them to get the most out of what they do have, or the slightadvantage the writing section gives minority students will bewasted.
The test might be biased; it might not be. But it's changing,and Indiana's high schools had better change with it, or they riskfurther disadvantaging the students they are supposed to beaccommodating.
Write to Allyn at aswest@bsu.edu
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
