Head of U. of California Seeks to End SAT Use in Admissions
“Let me describe how I came to make these recommendations. For many years, I have worried about the use of the SAT, but last year my concerns coalesced. I visited an upscale private school and observed a class of 12-year- old students studying verbal analogies in anticipation of the SAT. I learned that they spend hours each month — directly and indirectly — preparing for the SAT, studying long lists of verbal analogies such as "untruthful is to mendaciousness" as "circumspect is to caution." The time involved was not aimed at developing the students' reading and writing abilities but rather their test-taking skills.
What I saw was disturbing and prompted me to spend time taking sample SAT tests and reviewing the literature. I concluded what many others have concluded: that America's overemphasis on the SAT is compromising our educational system.” -- Speech Excerpt
In a letter Dr. Atkinson sent to the University of California's faculty senate today and in a speech he will give here on Sunday to the American Council on Education, an advance copy of which the school released tonight, Dr. Atkinson criticized the reliance on SAT's to rank students for admission to schools, saying that they are "not compatible with the American view on how merit should be defined and opportunities distributed."
If adopted, the proposed move to abandon the SAT's, taken by more than 1.2 million high school seniors applying for college each year, is expected to echo throughout the world of higher education. It follows similar moves by smaller schools, including Bates, Bowdoin and Mount Holyoke colleges, to make SAT's optional.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/17/national/17TEST.html?pagewanted=all
“Let me describe how I came to make these recommendations. For many years, I have worried about the use of the SAT, but last year my concerns coalesced. I visited an upscale private school and observed a class of 12-year- old students studying verbal analogies in anticipation of the SAT. I learned that they spend hours each month — directly and indirectly — preparing for the SAT, studying long lists of verbal analogies such as "untruthful is to mendaciousness" as "circumspect is to caution." The time involved was not aimed at developing the students' reading and writing abilities but rather their test-taking skills.
What I saw was disturbing and prompted me to spend time taking sample SAT tests and reviewing the literature. I concluded what many others have concluded: that America's overemphasis on the SAT is compromising our educational system.” -- Speech Excerpt
In a letter Dr. Atkinson sent to the University of California's faculty senate today and in a speech he will give here on Sunday to the American Council on Education, an advance copy of which the school released tonight, Dr. Atkinson criticized the reliance on SAT's to rank students for admission to schools, saying that they are "not compatible with the American view on how merit should be defined and opportunities distributed."
If adopted, the proposed move to abandon the SAT's, taken by more than 1.2 million high school seniors applying for college each year, is expected to echo throughout the world of higher education. It follows similar moves by smaller schools, including Bates, Bowdoin and Mount Holyoke colleges, to make SAT's optional.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/17/national/17TEST.html?pagewanted=all
No comments:
Post a Comment