Are SAT/ACT Essential for Admission?

As a follow-up to our series on standardized testing and test-optional colleges, you might be interested in this video by a father-daughter team who are acting out against the SAT.  If you like what they have to say, you might sign their petition at ACToutagainstSAT.org.
 
 

SAT + ACT = Unfair + Biased? from Sam Kauffmann on Vimeo.
 
You should know, however, that Fairtest.org participated in the creation of the video.  That’s not a bad thing at all.  But Fairtest does have a drum to thump.  I happen to agree that these tests are flawed and a poor measure of anything important.  They are credentials, pure and simple.  And it’s true that there is racial and class bias in the tests, and those who get tutors can raise their scores considerably. I’d just as soon see them eliminated–perhaps replaced by scores on state-mandated tests that have emerged out of No Child Left Behind.
The perversion is, of course, that some states like Colorado use these tests as part of their NCLB plan.  So it looks like the tests are here to stay, no  matter how dumb they might be.
Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant