Get Going Workshops

by Joanne Levy-Prewitt

Eliminating Subject Tests Could Decrease Academic Standards

Several weeks ago, a friend sent me a hyperlink to an article in the Daily Bruin, the newspaper published by the students at UCLA: "UC Proposes Changes to SAT Subject Tests' Weight." The journalists at UCLA had unearthed something important: The University of California is considering eliminating the SAT Subject Test requirement for admissions.

This might seem insignificant, especially if you live outside California, but consider this: It was in 2002, at the urging of the UC, that the College Board (the publisher of the SAT) added the previously optional writing test to the SAT Reasoning Test. As a result, every student who takes the SAT Reasoning Test must take the writing test, even if the colleges to which they apply ignore the results (and most do). So the policies of the UC have affected every college-bound student in the country.

Ned Johnson, co-author of "Conquering the SAT: How Parents Can Help Teens Overcome the Pressure and Succeed" ($16.95, Palgrave Macmillan), says he thinks the possible change at the UC could impact the SAT's influence: "I would expect that the abandonment of subject tests by the UC would not only cause a snowball effect among other schools, but also continue the ascent of the ACT and the trend toward parity between the ACT and SAT."

Including the nine UC campuses, there are only about 50 colleges nationwide that require the SAT Subject Tests. Another 20 or so recommend them, and an additional 30 consider them. Still, while there are relatively few colleges that might be directly affected if California students are no longer required to take the subject tests, those colleges are among the most selective in the nation, and they tend to compete for the highest achieving students. You can bet they will be interested to see what the UC decides.

Ashley Rochman, assistant director of college counseling at the International High School of the French-American International School in San Francisco, questions the sensibility of eliminating a curriculum-based exam: "The SAT Reasoning doesn't test more than the ability to be coached in game-playing tactics. I'd rather have kids learn about U.S. history, physics or English literature instead of spending endless hours studying for the SAT Reasoning. Knowledge of a particular subject is something that students can use for the rest of their lives. The SAT subject tests are not the problem. The SAT Reasoning exam is."

Ironically, in 2001 the UC released a report claiming that between the SAT and the SAT Subject Tests, the subject tests more accurately determined the likelihood of success in the freshman year, concluding that "the UC data provide strong evidence that students' scores on the SAT II achievement tests (as they were called then) are superior predictors of freshman grades than SAT I scores."

Representatives of the UC are concerned that there are talented students who do not apply to their schools because they do not take the course work, which would have prepared them for the subject tests; or do not know about the tests; or do not have the money to pay for them. It's an access issue.

If I had my druthers, I'd eliminate all standardized tests, but that's unlikely to happen. If we must have standardized tests, let them reflect what the students have been taught. If students haven't been taught advanced level work in high school and therefore can't take a subject test, maybe the powers that govern high schools should take notice and remedy that problem. Eliminate tests if they are poor measurements of learning, but don't eliminate them because of limited access; instead, increase access to both the courses and the tests.

My biggest fear is that if the subject tests are eliminated, advanced coursework in high schools will eventually be eliminated. I'm defending the subject tests because one could make the argument that they are authentic measurements of learning, and to a certain extent, they drive instruction. Decreasing our standards will affect every student in the nation.

COPYRIGHT 2007 JOANNE LEVY-PREWITT