This is what I have to say about test scores. For the truly bright child, they can level the playing field. My d is a minority (very dark Filipino with very curly hair) in a Republican state and we live in a suburb that was very recently rural. It is very middle class here (very, very few one-percenters) and we have a hug e emphasis on a tea-party like religious conservatism.
My d has been discriminated against almost from the very moment she was born. I remember taking her shopping and many of the long term residents had never seen a dark skinned baby before. They expressed amazement that “she was cute”; not having been exposed to diversity before, they did not think they would find value in a minority baby.
My d was frequently excluded from neighborhood gatherings or invitations that moms extend to other mom for play groups. The daughter of one of the moms who excluded her told her one day when she was playing outside that she did not want to play with her because of the color of her skin and her hair (ironically, she got her curly hair from me- and I am white).
In pre-school and private kindergarten that was located closer to the city, the teachers loved her. When a class was too big and they spit it up the class I walked in one day and heard the teachers arguing over who would get her because she was so well-behaved. She got all outstanding marks in kindergarten. Fast forward to public school for first grade in our rural neighborhood. She got in trouble the first day and got a red mark because some kid asked her where the bathroom was and she answered and she was in the hallway when she answered the question (no talking in the hall). She got the most severe punishment for this. When I called the teacher and explained that she had NEVER been in trouble in school prior, she replied in a sugary sweet voice that “she had been good THAT day”. In other words, she was labeling my child as a problem as of her third day of school. For unknown reasons, we had an influx of poor, non-English speaking Mexican immigrants who did not speak English. I think she though my d was one of these and treated her the worse for it. I told her otherwise and suggested she review her past school records because she was the only teacher who was labeling her as a problem. BTW- unsurprisingly, the Mexican immigrants seem to have disappeared from our school district three years later. They no doubt found it to be a not very welcoming environment.
We had no further disciplinary problems from that day forward in the school district. D was a straight A student all through school and was placed in advanced classes. However, there were subtle differences in how she was treated. She was denied opportunities (for example, participation in Math bee, even though she is the top female math student with Math IQ of about 150) and there was generally a lack of encouragement by the teachers no matter how well she did.
Fast forward to high school. Teachers are more enthusiastic and seem to appreciate her intellect and see that more than the color of her skin. However, families are still not very welcoming and open-minded. There seems to be a stereotype thinking that the white students who had been in the higher ability classes were inherently smarter and headed towards success. My d ignored the political climate and immersed herself in dance; academics came to her with very little effort.
THE GREAT EQUALIZER in all of this has been standardized testing. My d is NMF and is now a candidate for US Presidential Scholar, based on only taking the SAT once. She DID NOT HAVE PREP classes for the SAT. In fact, she only took this test once and did not take the ACT at all due to the demands of Saturday dance rehearsals. (Although she did take both in middle school as part of Duke University gifted program.) Some kids are naturally gifted. Standardized tests reveal some of these kids. IF they base admission on other things, it is going to be way more subjective. And, for minorities like my daughter, could result in discrimination due to the politics of the school environment.
However, I will add that she did decide to concentrate on her passions- dance and academics. Taking more than 4 AP classes at a time interfered with her pursuit of and passion for dance, which required many, many hours. As a parent I discouraged her from taking more APs because I wanted her to have some fun in high school, be able to pursue dance, and have some time for a social life. I believe it is unhealthy and creates an unbalanced child to encourage them to take 5-7 APs in a school year. However, I do understand that extreme pursuit of academics can be a child’s passion, which I would view as different from sacrificing development in other areas if that child enjoys doing that. As a result, my d fell from being first in her class for the first two years of high school to being 6th at graduation.
While I do agree that taking many, many APs should not be a pre-req for admission to top schools or scholarships, I don’t agree with doing away with standardized testing. I understand that there are students fro wealthy backgrounds who receive test-prep that do pretty well on these tests. However, that does not change the fact that any kids can pick up a review book and review on their own for the Act or SAT. It does not change the fact that these tests do predict a student’s ability to handle college coursework. And these tests are MUCH LESS BIASED than the subjectivity of some school administrators and election to club officer position which are dependent on popularity and can disadvantage a minority student. Showing the ability for success via taking a few AP courses and getting top AP scores as well as having very good standardized tests score is what I feel should remain primary consideration for top college programs.
"The report recommends less emphasis on standardized test scores, which largely correlate with family income.
It asks colleges to send a clear message that admissions officers won’t be impressed by more than a few Advanced Placement courses. Poorer high schools aren’t as likely to offer A.P. courses, and a heavy load of them is often cited as a culprit in sleep deprivation, anxiety and depression among students at richer schools."
“They’re realizing that many kids admitted into top schools are emotional wrecks or slavish adherents to soulless scripts that forbid the exploration of genuine passions. And they’re acknowledging the extent to which the admissions process has contributed to this.”"