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Replacing the SATs in admissions–what comes next?

How a ubiquitous portable, cloud-based ePortfolio-like solution begun in high school could help make college admissions more inclusive.

Over the past few months, much has been discussed regarding the moves by colleges and universities to re-examine the weight and value of SAT and ACT scores as they relate to admissions. Inclusiveness in standardized testing has always been a problem—the movie Stand And Deliver addresses this.

More than 35 years ago, the U.S. panicked when SAT scores seemed to significantly drop. Studies revealed that, to a large degree, this could be explained by demographic changes—shifts in the racial and socio-economic constituency of U.S. high schools. Put another way, it seemed most likely that students who were not middle class and Caucasian had appeared in greater and greater numbers to take a test ill-suited to these shifts.

This was, of course, a very delicate topic. In the absence of a definitive but only probable cause (lack of inclusiveness), the SAT tests were altered to significantly reduce their emphasis on reading and comprehension; as a result, test scores shot up 30-50 percent. In 1995, the test was controversially re-centered (the mean was adjusted back to 500) leading to charges of further “dumbing-down” the SATs.

Today, standardized tests are being once again closely examined and testing companies are moving to make exams even more inclusive. This is largely due to institutions recognizing that they might be missing out on good students who do not test as well as their peers.

Evidence of Experience

One solution to this ongoing issue is the early introduction of ePortfolios to collect evidence of experience related to outcomes that matter to higher education success: leadership, persistence, teamwork, unsupervised work, et cetera. Though high schools have provided inclusive opportunities to help develop these skills for eons, they haven’t tracked them with a systematic approach that an ePortfolio can offer.

And while It’s easy to acquire software, making it successful is another story.

(Next page: The key to ePortfolio and admissions inclusivity success)

Today, you can’t turn a corner without banging into an ePortfolio provider in the higher education space. However, ePortfolios are extremely rare in K-12. Why? School administrators say they don’t have enough time or money. With all the high stakes testing or demand for curricular coverage, teachers and faculty balk at the request to teach reflection and curation.

Yet, these are important skills that must be deliberately taught, practiced and feedback provided. Without this instruction, the ePortfolio will be nearly worthless. Do this well and you end up with young people who are less dependent learners who know what they are good at and what they need to improve upon. They can also demand more instruction or ask additional questions related to specific areas needing improvement.

It’s Critical to the Pipeline

Without a way to showcase their skills, pre-college learners can’t continue upstream when they hit the big education hydroelectric dam of life: entry into college. All they have to show is a GPA, scores on the SAT and an essay and short Q&A that a lot of parents hire coaches to help write. This ancillary evidence is often the only criteria an admissions officer has to distinguish one candidate from another, which can be very frustrating for the university.

It raises questions: 1) Will we regret admitting certain kids with high scores and good essays based on limited information? 2) Are there good students that we are missing, or worse, never applied?

I would hate to be in admissions’ shoes each year.

Now there is a consortium of 90 colleges and universities, the Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success [1], working on this problem. It is unclear if they will be able to agree on what to collect and how to ensure validity and reliability. They also are challenged to build or find something affordable that high schools could use and solve the thorny issues of implementation. Unless they collectively kick-in most of the upfront cost for this, the notion will likely never work.

The real answer lies in a ubiquitous portable, cloud-based ePortfolio-like solution, paid for by parents, which high schools can adopt and students can carry with them in their future endeavors. In a perfect world, the student would possess rights to the ePortfolio regardless of the schools he or she attended, and then beyond to their career and postgraduate education.

If well-designed to be simple and engaging, and with enough money to support years of work samples and reflection curation, ePortfolios could work.

Ultimately, success and learning is dependent on a holistic view of the student who has access to a solution that showcases his or her applied efforts over time—especially throughout the formative years of high school. With this in hand, the inclusiveness discussion may no longer be a discussion.