New SAT Grammar Section

[smurphius]

the one thing to baffle me about standardized testing is how much they don't really the test doesn't really measure. for a musician in example, suppose my child (which I don't have yet), a son or daughter of two musicians, one public music teacher, the other working on becoming a college professor, my child would probably be much more knowledgeable in music history, and reading and making music in general. however, my child may be so dumb otherwise that he cannot do basic algebra or reading comprehension really well. does that mean my child would be stupid? of course not, especially if they could make it as some great composer or performer in the music world. of course, according to ACT's and SAT's, no one else would know that. one test given the entire purpose of analyzing a child's mind is rather ridiculous, even if they have added this essay. my only hope is that this added essay might give a few more kids some sort of chance of avoiding the label "inadequate."

[Rick Denney]

...my child would probably be much more knowledgeable in music history, and reading and making music in general. however, my child may be so dumb otherwise that he cannot do basic algebra or reading comprehension really well...

Remember that the point of the SAT is to provide colleges with a means of assessing students objectively. As was mentioned previously, colleges use the SAT to eliminate clearly substandard (for that institution) candidates so they can focus their selection resources on those that show sufficient potential.

Thus, the SAT is focused not only skills one needs to be successful in life, but rather skills one needs to be successful in college. It is a predictor of college performance. An IQ test would not be as useful, because college courses don't depend solely on intelligence; they also require the ability to test well.

And colleges that are selecting candidates for programs that do not need the math and English skills to the extent that they need other skills use other measures, whether tests (such as the ACT), auditions, portfolios, performance in high school, or whatever.

The problem with the SAT is that because it is one of the few objective measures available, those who seek to prove a point will use that data to do so. Schools use it to brag about performance, administrators use it to assess performance, parents use it likewise, and politicians use it to justify whatever point they are trying to make. These are incorrect uses for the SAT, and the College Board has been complicit in these inappropriate applications. Consequently, anybody who has an interest in policy decisions that get made because of SAT scores wants to engineer the test to favor their point of view.

I would prefer to see that the results of the test are confidential by student, with the score being provided to colleges for a fee paid by the student (as with a transcript). I think the College Board should aggregate data to such a high level that it can't be used as a political football. That means not summarizing by school, school district, race, gender, ethnicity, and so on.

Rick "thinking the SAT is not a test of basic skills" Denney