College Admissions Cheating Racket

[BmorePat87]

(03-14-2019, 10:18 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: There is some hope in this realm, at least, that there will be a trend coming of universities making the ACT/SAT thing optional. University of Chicago made the announcement that they were going that route, last year, and The Chronicle put up an article talking about the potential implications. I don't know how long this trend will take to get solid traction or even if it will, but I think there would be a tremendous benefit in going that route.

We, at JMU, assess the shit out of everything. I mean, between out Office of Institutional Research and our Center for Assessment & Research Studies, we are constantly testing things out in an effort to improve education. I am someone that loves quantifying anything I can because I understand that sort of data better. But even I understand that you the sort of testing that is done by the ACTs/SATs is a poor representation of the what sort of student the person is. The university recognizes these flaws as well and does not require the test scores for admission.

Throw in on top of that fraud risks involved and the inadequate control mechanisms and it really is just sickening. Even more so for public institutions that have a responsibility to the public beyond that of private institutions.

GPA is a far better indicator of post secondary school success than SAT scores. Another move is to drop AP. 

With regards to assessment, when assessments are targeted and used to guide, they're effective. A better move for schools would be adopting a portfolio based assessment process that  is on going and requires self reflection.

(03-14-2019, 10:19 AM)GMDino Wrote: Our daughter didn't go to college.  She got her certificate at the tech school with her high school and got a job.  Our son will go in two years, but he has opted for the local campus to save money on travel and room & board.  But he isn't stressing about it.  He knows he will get the education he needs for his career path.

Long ago I told them both that college isn't for everyone and that a skill can be better.  I also told them they didn't have to be number one in their class and involved to the gills to get into a good college but that I would rather they learned something and tried their best and did things they enjoyed in high school rather than kill themselves over it.  One of the few things they listened to me about!  

That some colleges now(I graduated almost 30 years ago) are this ridiculous to even apply for is sad to me.  I didn't even need my SAT to get in back then.  the school I applied to (I applied to the one school I wanted to go to) only looked at SATs if they have an overload of applicants.  I took it anyway, but even that I didn't go to the training classes and all that crap.  I suppose higher education is just ANOTHER aspect of American society that has gotten out of hand due to the money to be made by some.

We need some hard reforms, but we need buy in from everyone in the community.