A couple of weeks ago the National Association for College Admission Counseling released a report released a report "urging schools to move away from traditional admissions tests in favor
of exams that would be more closely related to high school achievement
and that are at least currently exempt from the hype and hysteria that
surround the SAT" (New York Times, 1 October 2008).Today we read that Baylor University encouraged freshman who had already been admtitted to retake the exam, in hopes of raising the SAT average in their incoming class. Their new average is about 1210, up 10 points from 1200.
What could induce freshman to retake the exam when they'd already been admitted?
If the SAT and the ACT are useful at all, they are useful for making decisions about admitting students to college. Every Baylor student who retook the SAT had already been admitted to Baylor. This program isn't about enhancing Baylor's academic quality. It's about gaming the U.S. News & Reports college ranking system.1
Baylor claims that they were motivated by a desire to award additional merit-based aid. Yeah, and if you believe that, I have a bridge I'd like to sell you. There are much better ways to award additional aid to incoming freshmen. Baylor's student newspaper, The Lariat, seems to agree.
What could induce freshman to retake the exam when they'd already been admitted?
Baylor University in Waco, Tex., which has a goal of rising to the first tier of national college rankings, last June offered its admitted freshmen a $300 campus bookstore credit to retake the SAT, and $1,000 a year in merit scholarship aid for those who raised their scores by at least 50 points.Baylor's vice president for communications and marketing is quoted as saying, "We're very happy with the way it worked out." He ought to be ashamed.
If the SAT and the ACT are useful at all, they are useful for making decisions about admitting students to college. Every Baylor student who retook the SAT had already been admitted to Baylor. This program isn't about enhancing Baylor's academic quality. It's about gaming the U.S. News & Reports college ranking system.1
Baylor claims that they were motivated by a desire to award additional merit-based aid. Yeah, and if you believe that, I have a bridge I'd like to sell you. There are much better ways to award additional aid to incoming freshmen. Baylor's student newspaper, The Lariat, seems to agree.
Liz Foreman, the assistant city editor of The Lariat, and Ashley Corinne Killough, a staff writer, broke the story about the SAT retake on Oct. 9. In Tuesday's Lariat, an editorial accused Baylor officials of "using some cheap ploys to try to better its ranking.""Cheap ploy". That sums it up pretty well, but "tawdry" or "disgraceful" would be even better.
1The average SAT (or ACT) score of incoming freshmen is one of the important metrics in the U.S. News rankings.
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