Harvard University
To hide their racial preferences, many more American colleges are likely to stop using standardized tests like the SAT in admissions, if the Supreme Court restricts the use of race in college admissions. Blacks are admitted to selective colleges with substantially lower average SAT scores than whites or Asians. Getting rid of the test sometimes makes it harder to prove that a less qualified black applicant was admitted over a more qualified white or Asian applicant.
Many observers expect the Supreme court to prohibit some forms of affirmative action in college admissions, in its upcoming decision this month about whether Harvard University and the University of North Carolina violated the civil rights laws or the Constitution by giving racial preference to blacks and Hispanics.
More than 1,900 colleges and universities have now gone test optional, according to a national survey released on June 7.Test optional means administrators do not require applicants to submit either an SAT or ACT score.“That all-time-high figure represents 83% of U.S. four-year schools” — more than eight out of 10 colleges, exults the left-wing group FairTest.
Many Supreme Court observers have predicted that a conservative majority of justices will issue a ruling against affirmative action in college admissions; that decision is expected to be issued later this month. Since the average black student does not perform as well as the average white and Asian student on the SAT and ACT, colleges have dropped the use of the standardized exam scores in admissions decisions in order to increase the number of black students, even without using overt racial preferences.
“If the Supreme Court bars affirmative action, we expect that very few schools will continue to require the ACT or SAT. And it is likely that many more graduate programs will eliminate requirements for exams such as the GRE, GMAT, LSAT and GMAT,” predicts FairTest Executive Director Harry Feder.
FairTest is critical of the SAT and ACT, falsely claiming arguing such exams are biased and disadvantage blacks. In reality, the SAT does not discriminate against blacks. In fact, the SAT actually slightly overpredicts black performance in college by a tiny bit. On average a black student performs slightly worse in college than a white student with the same SAT score. Although the SAT is not perfect, SAT score is predictive of college performance for both blacks and whites — considering both an applicant’s grades and his test score gives you a better prediction of how they will do in college, than just considering their grades. So getting rid of the SAT leaves colleges less able to predict whether a student will excel or flunk out.The number of schools not requiring the SAT and ACT has risen dramatically in recent rears, expanding by over a thousand colleges and universities just since March 2020:
1,075 ACT/SAT-optional schools pre-pandemic (as of March 15, 2020)
1,700 schools did not require ACT/SAT scores for fall 2020
1,775 schools did not require ACT/SAT scores for fall 2021
1,825 schools did not require ACT/SAT scores for fall 2022
1,904 schools do not require ACT/SAT scores for fall 2023
Some colleges have bucked the trend, however. For example, last year the Massachusetts Institute of Technology decided to reinstate mandatory submission of standardized tests for admissions, finding that getting rid of standardized tests harms smart poor kids’ admissions chances, and results in a worse crop of admitted applicants.
“Our research shows standardized tests help us better assess the academic preparedness of all applicants, and also help us identify socioeconomically disadvantaged students who lack access to advanced coursework or other enrichment opportunities that would otherwise demonstrate their readiness for MIT,” said MIT’s dean of admissions.
Racial preferences in college admissions violate the plain language of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and likely violate the Constitution when employed by public universities. They also frequently violate the law against racial discrimination in contracts, 42 U.S.C. 1981, as the Supreme Court ruled in footnote 23 of its decision in Gratz v. Bollinger (2003).
For your convenience, you may leave commments below using Disqus. If Disqus is not appearing for you, please disable AdBlock to leave a comment.
