Standardized Testing, Pro and Con

The University of California system is leading the way in the war against standardized testing. You see, the results of such tests do not promote diversity and inclusion. Therefore, college admissions officers must ignore them. There, that solves the problem or racial inequity.

Jonathan Turley explains the sad reality, namely that standardized tests are one of the most reliable predictors of future success. (via Maggie’s Farm) Not merely in college, but in the business world after college. In China such tests have been used for around a thousand years. They are the basis for admitting students and hiring officials on the basis of merit.

We have all known this for quite some time, but the University of California task force has again showed it to be true.

Instead, its final report concluded that “At UC, test scores are currently better predictors of first-year GPA than high school grade point average (HSGPA), and about as good at predicting first-year retention, [University] GPA, and graduation.” Not only that, it found: “Further, the amount of variance in student outcomes explained by test scores has increased since 2007 … Test scores are predictive for all demographic groups and disciplines … In fact, test scores are better predictors of success for students who are Underrepresented Minority Students (URMs), who are first generation, or whose families are low-income.” In other words, test scores remain the best indicator for continued performance in college.

Given the predictive value of standardized testing, schools ought to be sanctioned for discriminating against Asian and now white applicants:

The Harvard Crimson reported that “Asian-American applicants to Harvard earned an average SAT score of 726. White applicants earned an average score of 713, Native American and Native Hawaiian applicants an average score of 658, Hispanic American applicants a score of 650, and African American applicants a score of 622.” Yet, during that same period, “Asian-Americans saw the lowest acceptance rate of any racial group.”

Of course, the applicant pool is self-selected, so we do not, from these numbers, know the average test scores of non-applicants.

Turley remarks on the value of standardized tests:

However, standardized scores remain highly valuable as objective comparisons of all applicants to guarantee a system based on meritocracy, including within such groups.

Obviously, as I have often pointed out, accepting applicants who have lower test scores, and thus excluding applicants with higher test scores in order to produce a diversity quota, makes America less competitive in the global economy. 

Indeed, at a time when the United States is losing ground on math and science, the elimination of such testing could undermine our competitive position in a global economy; countries like China demand high levels of objective performance in areas like math and science.

It is also obvious that race-based admissions quotas tell prospective employers that minority candidates did not earn their way. Grade inflation does not solve the problem of judging people by their race. It aggravates it.

Obviously, Turley is correct to say that the solution involves improving the performance of minority students. This has been happening in charter schools, especially in those that require rigorous discipline, in behavior and in studies. Of course, the people who want to abandon standardized tests also want to shut down charter schools. And they have also shut down many large city school systems for around a year, to the obvious detriment of minority children.

Turley explains:

There is an alternative. Rather than eliminate standardized scores due to the disparity in performance of racial groups, we should focus on improving the performance of minority high school students in these areas.

The numbers tell the story:

Testing results reflect a continuing failure of our public schools. The top-spending public school districts are also some of the worst-performing districts. New York topped the per capita spending, at $24,040 per kid. Yet, according to a 2019 study, over half of New York City public school kids cannot handle basic math or English. On tests, Asian kids shows a 74.4 percent proficiency in math, with a 66.6 percent proficiency for whites, 33.2 percent proficiency for Hispanics and 28.2 percent proficiency for African Americans.