The Other 85 Percent

Should colleges drop the SAT and ACT as admission requirements?

October 22, 2008 | Filed under: Capella, Capella University, College rankings, The Other 85 Percent, college, distance learning, elearning, online education, online learning, online university

The SAT and ACT exams have long been used in admissions by land-based colleges and universities.  However, Inside Higher Ed reports that this is changing.  The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), in a major shift, is encouraging colleges to “consider dropping the SAT or ACT as admission requirements.”  The news report states that a special NACAC panel concluded that “colleges have been placing more emphasis on testing despite evidence that they should be moving in the opposite direction.  Generally, the commission supports the position that high school grades in pre-college courses are the best way to predict college success.”   The report goes on to say that there are concerns that the tests are not equally valid for all groups of people and may limit minority enrollments.  Along that line, the article cites some examples of colleges that dropped the tests or made them optional and subsequently realized more applications, in general, and more from female and minority students, in particular.  What NACAC proposes instead of the tests is a move to “a highly personalized look at applications.”

This topic interests me because as an adult educator, I have heard questions and criticisms about why these tests were not used for admissions.  The fact is that one of the groups that these tests don’t serve well is adults.  The tests are designed and validated with high school students.  The tests have been shown to have little predictive value for adults.  Yet, the questions persist about why the tests are not used for adult admissions.  So, it is gratifying to see that NACAC and the highly selective colleges mentioned in the news report are taking this stand.

But, if the solution is to rely on pre-college courses, that does not help adult students.  Many adults who want to earn a college degree did not have the opportunity to take pre-college courses.  And, even if they did, the fact that they did or did not do well in a pre-college course taken ten, twelve, twenty years ago is not really all that helpful in making an admission decision.

Instead, what adult-serving institutions have done and will continue to do is to recognize that there are no easily available predictors of college success for adult applicants.  Instead, we must use the suggested “highly personalized” assessments to guide our admissions decisions.  We must understand the applicant’s high school or prior college success, or lack thereof, but mitigate that information with what has intervened in the years since.  We need to look at work, family, community and other experience.  We need to assess whether maturity or other intervening factors weigh in favor of or against admission.  This is not easy work.

Nonetheless, this is important work.  Extending opportunity to adults who want to learn and earn a degree.  It is comforting to know that the higher education mainstream is moving in our direction, confirming what we have known and been doing for many years.

Your thoughts? I look forward to reading your comments.

Mike

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