ERIC Number: ED525139
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Oct
Pages: 240
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: ISBN-0-8077-5263-0
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
SAT Wars: The Case for Test-Optional College Admissions
Soares, Joseph A., Ed.
Teachers College Press
What can a college admissions officer safely predict about the future of a 17-year-old? Are the best and the brightest students the ones who can check off the most correct boxes on a multiple-choice exam? Or are there better ways of measuring ability and promise? In this penetrating and revealing look at high-stakes standardized admissions tests, Joseph Soares demonstrates the far-reaching and mostly negative impact of the tests on American life and calls for nothing less than a national policy change. SAT Wars presents a roadmap for rethinking college admissions that moves us past the statistically weak and socially divisive SAT/ACT. The author advocates for evaluation tools with a greater focus on what youth actually accomplish in high school as a more reliable indicator of qualities that really matter in one's life and to one's ability to contribute to society. This up-to-date book features contributions by well-known experts, including a piece from Daniel Golden, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting in the Wall Street Journal on admissions, and a chapter on alternative tests from Robert Sternberg, who is the world's most-cited living authority on educational research. This book features: (1) An authoritative combination of voices, including college presidents, admissions deans, scholars from economics, history, and sociology, and test-industry participants; (2) New information on the racial and gender biases built into the SAT; (3) The only independent case studies of the limitations of the new SAT; (4) A step-by-step guide on how college admissions can go test-optional; and (5) Alternative tests to SAT/ACT developed by Robert Sternberg. [Foreword by David Hawkins. Contributors include: Martha Allman; Richard C. Atkinson; Chang Young Chung; Christopher Cornwell; John Douglas; Thomas J. Espenshade; Saul Geiser; Daniel Golden; David Hawkins; John Latting; Charles Murray; David B. Mustard; Kevin Rask; Jay Rosner; Chloe Melissa Rothstein; Robert Schaeffer; Robert J. Sternberg; Jill Tiefenthaler; Jessica Van Parys; and Teresa Wonnell. ]
Descriptors: Admissions Officers, Educational Research, College Admission, College Presidents, College Entrance Examinations, High Stakes Tests, Standardized Tests, Educational Policy, Educational Change, Deans, Gender Bias, Racial Bias, Student Evaluation, Expertise
Teachers College Press. 1234 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027. Tel: 800-575-6566; Fax: 802-864-7626; e-mail: tcp.orders@aidcvt.com; Web site: http://www.tcpress.com
Publication Type: Books; Collected Works - General; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: Parents; Support Staff; Teachers; Administrators
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A