|

Using the SAT for School Grades? What Justifies that Baloney?

ByAccountabaloney

“Mathematics, Science, being able to use the English language – these tests don’t measure it and they don’t improve it. So why do they exist?” – Leo Botstein, President Bard College

“It distracts from the basic purposes of schooling. It’s no help to teachers. There’s no diagnostic power in the SAT or the ACT.” – Anthony Carnevale, Former VP, Educational Testing Service

“What it correlates to is your parents’ income level, as opposed to your intelligence or your ability to get good grades in college. Or even your ability to get good grades in high school.” – Jamie Macy, Former Admissions Reader, Stanford University

“I concluded what many others have concluded, that America’s overemphasis on the SAT is compromising our education system.” – Richard Atkinson, Former President and Regent, University of California.

“It’s spreading. It’s infiltrating all things. There were always questions about the usefulness, validity, fairness of the SAT, now we’re going to increase it’s reach and its impact.” – Akil Bello, Co-founder and former CEO of Bell Curves, a test-prep company dedicated to underserved and disadvantaged communities. Currently the Director of Equity and Access for the Princeton Review.

“What theory of cognitive development justifies that bullshit?”

– Richard Atkinson, Former President and Regent, University of California.

These are all quotes from the 2018 documentary “the TEST and the ART of learning,” which highlights our nation’s obsession with the SAT. I became aware of the film and watched it ($4.99 rental on Amazon Prime) this week. This parents’ reaction accurately sums up what I felt watching this documentary.

“Every word being uttered in this film is as if someone is reading my mind. These tests are crazy and way too much emphasis is being placed on them” – Cheryl R, parent reaction to “the TEST and the ART of thinking.”

I encourage parents of high school students, and everyone concerned about education, to watch this film, especially the Florida lawmakers who participated in passing SB1108 this session, which was signed into law by the governor on 6/22/21.

During Florida’s 2021 Legislative Session, Senate Bill 1108 (Diaz), and its House companion HB507 (Rizo), sailed through their committee stops without opposition. The bills addressed several issues including providing assessment alternatives for English Language Learners, extending the current Competency Based Education Pilot program and creating a new “Innovative Blended Learning Pilot Program.” In addition, the bill requires each school district, beginning in the 2021-2022 school year and subject to appropriation, to select either the SAT or the ACT for districtwide administration to each public school student in grade 11, including students attending public high schools, alternative schools, and Department of Juvenile Justice education programs. This year, the state set aside federal Covid relief funds ($8 million) for this purpose.

If the only intent was to give all students access to college entrance exams, I wouldn’t be writing this piece. A free college entrance exam, even a flawed one like the SAT, would probably be welcomed by parents everywhere. The problem is that Florida intends, eventually, to use the SAT/ACT scores as part of its Accountability System/School Grades calculation. As the film highlights, using SAT scores for Accountability measures is a bad idea.

During Florida’s 2020 Legislative Session, HB7079 (Aloupis), which also called for a free SAT/ACT for every 11th grader, passed the House but died in the Senate Education committee. HB7079’s Staff Analysis clearly stated the intentions of the Department of Education to use the SAT/ACT scores for school grade calculations: 

https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?FileName=h7079c.EDC.DOCX&DocumentType=Analysis&BillNumber=7079&Session=2020

The FLDOE’s goal of using SAT/ACT scores to replace the 9th and 10th grade ELA FSA and Math end-of-course (EOC) scores in the school grade calculation was celebrated during their rollout of the new B.E.S.T. standards. They claimed that this would be a “big win” for parents, because the SAT/ACT were “valued by parents and students” and were better aligned to “college readiness.” They said the move to SAT/ACT was “an innovative Policy proposal” which would “streamline testing” and “align testing with values that Florida’s parents, teachers and students can embrace.”

At the time, we wrote about our concerns:

“Including SAT/ACT scores in the School Grade calculation is a bad idea, even if the students will not need to meet a particular passing score on the SAT or ACT for graduation.

–Both the SAT and ACT exams are now aligned to the Common Core State Standards, yet these “BEST” standards purport to eliminate Common Core from our state standards. How can we hold educators accountable for teaching one set of standards, by testing for another?

-SAT and ACT scores are highly correlated with family income and parents’ education attainment. Including such scores in the A-F school grade calculation will (continue to) favor schools serving high income, highly educated families.

–Research supports the notion that these tests specifically disadvantage children of color, children from low-income families and children with disabilities; again, making them a poor choice for an accountability measure.

-There are also concerns regarding gender bias and these standardized tests: “Despite the fact that girls consistently perform better than boys in high school math classes, girls underperform boys in the math sections of these tests. For example, for SAT tests taken by the class of 2019, girls averaged 519 and boys averaged 537.”

Regardless of whether parents “value” their child’s SAT/ACT scores more or not, these tests are poor measurements for an accountability system that attaches high stakes, like teacher compensation, school funding and even mandated closure of schools, to a school grade calculation. Attaching high stakes accountability to these scores will further advance the disparities we see today, placing schools serving lower income populations, or those with more students with disabilities and/or students of color at a disadvantage in our flawed school grade calculation.”

https://accountabaloney.com/index.php/2020/01/28/hoping-for-the-b-e-s-t-using-sat-act-scores-to-calculate-school-grades-probably-wont-get-us-there/

The film, “the TEST and the ART of learning,” highlights all of these concerns, and then some. One of its major concerns is the inevitable effect on classroom instruction itself. These concerns were summarized in a 2018 report by the Achieve, Inc., an independent, nonprofit education reform organization, entitled “What Gets Tested Gets Taught: Cautions for Using College Admissions Tests in State Accountability Systems.”:

…neither the ACT nor College Board, the developer of the SAT, developed these tests as measures of how well students are meeting state mathematics and English language arts (ELA) standards, which is the primary purpose of state accountability tests. When they are used as a state’s mathematics and ELA tests — when they “count” for schools, educators, and students — there is the greatest likelihood that they will drive classroom instruction more than state standards do.

https://www.achieve.org/college-admissions-tests-accountability

The Achieve report suggests that if/when SAT/ACT scores are incorporated into our high stakes accountability system, then the content of the B.E.S.T. standards will become meaningless, because, as the film’s interviewed SAT tutors point out, these are tests that reward test prep and “test taking tricks,” nothing that resembles true learning, and the results can be gamed:

“At the end of the day, the single greatest indictment of this test, or any of these tests, is now and always has been that every single one of us at this table can raise a score. In 6 weeks, I can raise a score.  If this test taught anything meaningful, that would not be the case.”

https://www.thetestdoc.org

In the film, James Murphy, a journalist says: “What worries me… in the past they’ve said we’re going to change the test so it looks more like the high school curriculum, my worry now is that what they’re going to do is change the high school curriculum so it looks more like the test. And to me that’s a disaster. Nobody should have to go to SAT class in the middle of their school day.”

Florida is headed down that path. Schools will be incentivized, by the school grades system, to set aside the new B.E.S.T. standards based curriculum and spend time focused on the test taking tricks and tips that may lead to higher test scores but are no substitute for education itself.

Again, I encourage you to watch the film. I urge you to encourage your legislators to watch the film. And, while you watch it, ask yourself: why are we going down this path?

HINT: it is NOT #forthekids

“You can defend the test as it gives us a clean number, we like that. It seems to be a national, in that sense, “more objective” standard, we like that. It seems to provide for opportunity, and we like that. All of these are narratives that Americans embrace, it’s just that on every single point it’s a myth. On every single point it’s not true.” -Joseph Soares in “the TEST and the ART of learning,” Department Chair and Professor of Sociology at Wake Forest University and editor of “SAT Wars — The Case for Test-Optional College Admissions.”

Similar Posts

61 Comments

  15. Smartphone technology is more than capable of running all your favourite casino online payid australia pokie games.

    Typically, fixed Jackpots have a multiplier bound to your initial wager; for example, a 2000x
    multiplier will earn you AU$2000 on a AU$1 wager.
    With frequent real money payouts and large real money jackpots, it’s easy to
    see why so many Aussie players love playing pokies
    for real money. We want our readers to feel confident
    when choosing to play online pokie games. To start reaping the rewards from these added
    symbols, players only need two or three to start experiencing amazing added features.
    Our reviewed list of online casinos knows this and has ensured players can access all their favourite pokies from their
    smartphones.

  16. You choose a payment method, enter the required details, confirm
    the amount, and the funds are added after the processor approves the transaction. PayPal,
    Skrill, Neteller, ecoPayz, and other digital wallets process payments
    through stored balances, linked bank accounts, or linked cards.
    And how long the money takes to arrive once
    the casino wire transfer withdrawal has actually approved the request.
    Casinos can request KYC documents to confirm your identity before sending withdrawals.
    Many times the method that you used to deposit money will automatically
    serve as your tool for withdrawal as well, but if
    that option doesn’t work you’ll have to choose from one of the others available instead.
    Once you know all this you’ll be able to play at online sites
    with confidence, and enjoy any winnings that you earn along the way.

  17. Einige online Casinos bieten für bestimmte Einzahlungsmethoden sogar spezielle Extra-Boni – prüfen Sie aber immer die Bonusbedingungen. HomeMobile Casino ZahlungsmethodenCasino mit Sofortüberweisung – Beste Sofort Casinos 2026 Bei der Zahlung im
    Online Casino Sofortüberweisung zu nutzen, garantiert die schnelle
    Ausführung der Einzahlung, ohne dass ein separates Nutzerkonto oder eine nochmalige Verifizierung notwendig sind.

    Ein Klick auf das Sicherheitsschloss-Symbol daneben führt zu weiteren Informationen über
    die eingesetzten Zertifikate auf der Website. Die gesetzten Limits
    unserer Casino-Empfehlungen für Auszahlungen erhöhen sich in der
    Regel mit dem Spielumsatz und sind für normale Nutzer meist vollkommen ausreichend.

  25. No brand in this comparison requires AU$50 or more to unlock the welcome offer, which keeps
    payid pokies real money entry accessible
    across a wide range of Australian bankroll sizes.
    If you care more about simplicity and minimum deposit accessibility,
    Wild Tokyo’s AU$15 entry point makes it the most bankroll-friendly option for new payid pokies
    real money players entering the market. A small minority of other casinos with PayID may apply their own withdrawal
    fees or restrict free withdrawals to a limited number per month.

  30. Wir haben zu den Boni jeweils eigene Ratgeber geschrieben, damit
    du nicht durcheinander kommst. Anstatt nervige Formulare ausfüllen zu müssen, kannst du direkt wieder auf Trustly auszahlen,
    falls du auch damit eingezahlt hast. Dabei wurde auch die Auszahlung
    per Sofortüberweisung durchgeführt und in wenigen Sekunden ausgezahlt.

    Wir haben alle besten Trustly Online Casino Mit Trustly Casinos aufgelistet, damit du nicht mehr suchen musst.
    Abgesehen davon, dass dieser Anbieter TÜV-geprüft ist er zudem extrem schnell und
    einfach zu bedienen.

  42. We watch whether it credits instantly, check if a partial voucher balance can be used or if you need to spend the full amount, and test whether multiple codes can be stacked in a single session. We don’t just eyeball a casino’s cashier page and call it a day. On the lower end, you’ll find vouchers starting around A$10–A$20, which are perfect for casual players who just want a low-risk flutter on the https://www.mashinky.cz/forum/topic/neosurf-casino-australia-best-bonuses-for-new-players-2026/ pokies without breaking the bank.

  43. The best one for you depends on what you need, so use the filters on the list or the “best for” picks. 131 of the 137 casinos we list let you close your account for a while, but only 49 let you set deposit limits, so check the tools in a casino’s review before you join. The Interactive Gambling Act 2001 makes it an offence for operators to offer online casino games, including pokies, to people in Australia. Pick what you need and the list keeps only the https://forum.rukoeu.com/d/182-does-best-bpay-pokies-australia-pay-out-fast that have it.

  57. We don’t list casinos that fail PayID withdrawal checks or apply misleading payout claims. Out of the 12 operators on our core Australian list, our reviews confirm active PayID support at only VegasNow and 1Red so far. Nevertheless, read the specific terms and conditions attached to any offer to confirm that no payment method restrictions apply. The table below outlines general features across popular options; exact terms depend on each site’s cashier settings.

    References: https://poudreoverlook.com/forum/topic/free-credit-pokies-payid-real-money-no-deposit-bonus-it-never-ends-until/

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *