The ACT Discriminates ...but not in the way you might expect.

[Kamaji]

The ACT Discriminates

...but not in the way you might expect.

Does the ACT discriminate? Yes, it does. It separates students based on how much high school material they’ve learned. That’s all.

Frederick R. Prete
16 Jul 2022

We can’t decide how we feel about standardized college admission tests like the ACT. Some schools think they’re fundamentally biased against female, minority and low-income students and have either stopped using them or made them optional. Others believe that abandoning the tests will harm low- and middle-income students by making the admission process more subjective, thereby advantaging wealthier, better connected applicants. On the other hand, some schools think that standardized tests are necessary to accurately assess student preparedness and identify those who will benefit most from college. Such schools have either continued or reinstated their test requirements.

Is there anything more to add to the debate, or are the tests just fatally flawed anachronisms?

Most of what I’ve read about standardized tests like the ACT has been written from the “30,000-foot perspective” by people who have faced the test once as teenagers. I’d like to offer a different perspective. I’m a biological psychologist. I’ve been a university professor in both Psychology and Biology departments for several decades. However, I also spent 12 years teaching high school biology, chemistry, math, and ACT/SAT prep courses for a nonprofit tutoring center which, unfortunately, recently closed. They did great work.

*  *  *

What I’ve learned

I’ve been teaching for quite a while. Over the decades, a lot has changed, but much has stayed the same. For instance, students’ intellectual needs haven’t changed very much. Nor has the basic level of education necessary for a reasonably good life. (No, everyone does not need to code.)

Something else has stayed the same. It’s the students’ biology. Learning is actually a physiological process. In order to learn something, there has to be an actual change in brain organization. That’s why learning is difficult, and why it takes time. It’s no different from sports. In order to get better at tennis, you have to practice tennis. In order to learn math, you have to practice math.

To do well on a test like the ACT, you have to take it after having thoroughly and repeatedly practiced the material that it covers. That takes several years of high school, just like it takes several years to be a good tennis player.

Does the ACT discriminate? Yes, it does. It separates students based on how much high school material they’ve learned. That’s all.



Source:  https://quillette.com/2022/07/16/the-act-discriminates/

[DefiantMassRINO]

Back in the late 1980's, the ACT was a much more well-rounded exam than the SAT's.

The SAT's only had math and reading and writing stuff.  The ACT's included science and social studies.  For the SAT, I took the Achievement Test for social studies, but that was a seperate exam that you had to pay for.

The ACT's and SAT's discriminate against non-rich people.

[Kamaji]

Back in the late 1980's, the ACT was a much more well-rounded exam than the SAT's.

The SAT's only had math and reading and writing stuff.  The ACT's included science and social studies.  For the SAT, I took the Achievement Test for social studies, but that was a seperate exam that you had to pay for.

The ACT's and SAT's discriminate against non-rich people.

Not according to the author, who states that he has extensive experience as both a teacher and as a test-prep tutor.

[DefiantMassRINO]

Did that teacher work as a test-prep tutor for free?

SAT and ACT test prep is not free, and takes significant amount of time that a poor student may need for a job to help support his/her family.

The college application process is a barrier to entry to higher education that favors those with free time and disposable income.

The test prep course/tutor costs money and time.
The practice prep exam (PSAT, SAT, ACT) requires a fee.
A check must accompany each application to each college.
The exams require a fee.
Rich kids can afford to take the tests multiple times to game the combination of their highest SAT math score and their highest SAT verbal score.

Yes, with all these barriers-to-entry to "unprepared" college students, the colleges and universities are still graduating morons with degrees.

Ken Langone had the right idea to eliminate affordability as a economic barrier-to-entry to prospective medical students and NYU School of Medicine.

Of course the for-fee test prep tutor is going to defend the exams because they are his/her bread and butter.  Just like organized crime defends the for-fee services they provide.

[Kamaji]

Did that teacher work as a test-prep tutor for free?

SAT and ACT test prep is not free, and takes significant amount of time that a poor student may need for a job to help support his/her family.

The college application process is a barrier to entry to higher education that favors those with free time and disposable income.

The test prep course/tutor costs money and time.
The practice prep exam (PSAT, SAT, ACT) requires a fee.
A check must accompany each application to each college.
The exams require a fee.
Rich kids can afford to take the tests multiple times to game the combination of their highest SAT math score and their highest SAT verbal score.

Yes, with all these barriers-to-entry to "unprepared" college students, the colleges and universities are still graduating morons with degrees.

Ken Langone had the right idea to eliminate affordability as a economic barrier-to-entry to prospective medical students and NYU School of Medicine.

Of course the for-fee test prep tutor is going to defend the exams because they are his/her bread and butter.  Just like organized crime defends the for-fee services they provide.

Oh please.  Everything costs money.  According to the author, the course he taught cost a few hundred.

That does not make for a product that only the well-heeled can afford.