The Chronicle of Higher Education has joined in the reporting on “Score Choice,” the new policy by the College Board to allow students the ability to choose which test scores are sent to college admissions offices. ‘Score Choice’: a Tempest in a Teapot? – Chronicle.com (subscription required).
The article makes the following helpful points.
1. Much of the criticism stems from the fact that the College Board is an organization that everyone loves to hate.
2. The College Board’s rival, the ACT, has offered the equivalent to “score choice” for years, without any hew and cry.
3. There is a legitimate debate about who should “own” the scores: students, the College Board, or the admissions offices.
4. Colleges often average scores, and sometimes pick the highest scores anyway.
5. Students with multiple scores are likely to be in a higher income bracket, which tells gives those colleges some useful information (which should make some students think twice about taking the tests more than twice).
6. Colleges can still ask (or demand) that all scores be revealed to them.
I also feel that this new policy is, indeed, much ado about nothing. There are, of course, ways in which to improve one’s test score. I worry that too many parents–and students–fret too much that these test scores define them as learners and as human beings. Even students with average test scores can get a great college education.
Mark Montgomery
College Counselor
