Standardization of SAT and GRE - Essay Example

?Standardization of SAT and GRE Admission in the Universities of America requires a qualifying score in exams like SAT, GRE and ACT. The top universities of America have been the lookout for the students from all over the world. Every year, a huge number of candidates take part in the examination in seeking an admission to the top notch universities in order to pursue a blooming career. The standardization and the effectiveness of these global tests are in question in recent times. Much discrepancy has been assumed to creep into the system. In the paper, the fairness of the pattern of the examination, and its standard considering its global importance has been studied. The biasness of the universities associating the scores of such examination in admission procedure are also been studied over here. Thesis statement: The SAT and GRE examinations are biased in their scoring pattern and has little effectiveness in determining the performance of the students in colleges due to degradation in its standard. Meritocracy in America and SAT: The importance of SAT cannot be overlooked. SAT has established itself as the primary gatekeepers for the entry in university of America. The admissions system in America became more selective because of the increase in the number of applicants every year and the limited number of seats in American universities. In this environment the importance of SAT cannot be ignored. SAT acts as a mechanism to rank students and allow entry into the universities based on he scores. SAT has been to predict the performance of the students over the years. (Nagasaki, 44) Another important factor which deals with SAT is the benefits associated with it. Sat and Act provides the facilities of scholarships. The scholarship is granted to the students based on their merits. Providing of such scholarships facilitates students from economically weak class to peruse their education. Often it was found that meritorious students would stop pursuing higher education due to financial constraint, but the competitive examinations helped them a lot by the grant of the scholarships (Wadsworth). SAT and Act acts as the guiding factor to a numerous college and universities all over the United States and the admission procedure is claimed to be followed based on the merit of students. (Sebastian) The meritocracy of America is popular over the decades. However in recent times the model of meritocracy has been in question. The globalization of the world and the popularity of the education system of America have turned the education system as a medium for grasping more economic benefits. The universities have also cited social discrimination against the students of various races seeking an admission in the universities. The origination of SAT happened in the year 1926 as an effort to enable youths from various parts of the worlds to attend the universities regardless of their social backgrounds. The idea of nationwide scholarship test was framed by James Bryant Conant. (Toch) However in recent times social factors have taken much significance in the admission criteria. The educational inequality has been a striking factor. Often it is found that meritorious students emerging from the lower class in the society are deprived from proper educational facilities and they fail to make an entry to the graduate schools. The African Americans are found to attend less prestigious schools. These inequalities have spread also in the higher education system of the country. Studies reflect that Latin and Americans belonging from the northern parts of the country tend to score lower in their SAT exams in comparison to the Whites. However the difference in SAT scores by them have been claimed to be due to the difference in the level of education they received in their school levels. Whether it is due to the fact of quality of education or due to discrepancy in the SAT scores the effect of the social class on SAT scores cannot be ignored. (Shephard, 347) It is claimed that examinations like SAT and GRE are predictor of family incomes rather than that of the merit which a student has. Average scores of students appearing in these competitive exams are in a proportion to their family’s annual income. The value of correlation between the SAT scores and the incomes ranges from .23 to .40. The distribution of the SAT score is purely done on the basis of the family incomes. The biasness between the non whites is also evident when it is found that nonwhite students with higher mean marks in school levels than the whites, have scored lower than the whites in the Entrance exams of the college. (Elert) Standardization of test: Standardized testing has been a part of the American education system. The global popularity of the American universities has eventually turned the standardized testing into a big business. The validity of the test scores as the predictors of grades are in question. The competitive exams in USA for the admission to universities are handled by testing agencies. The standardization of competitive exams like SAT and GRE are determined by the test of validity and reliability. The predictive natures of the test have been not so impressive over the years. The effectiveness of the standardized tests like GMAT and SAT has proved to be efficient only in determining the first year grades. In context of the cost incurred in appearing for the test their ineffectiveness raises a serious matter of concern. The nature of examination conducted by SAT is also under the question. The methods chosen for the evaluation of students is also not held proper. SAT uses the method of objectivity in judging the merit of students. (Carter) Though the use of objective questions is used but the pattern required for the students to answer is based on subjective decisions. It includes the choice of format and the topics to cover in answering the questions. The objective test often contains irrelevant or ambiguous questions. The overall efficiency of SAT in predicting the performance of students ranges from 8 to 15 % (Elert).The values derived from the correlation of scores and grades reflect lower values in the later years of the curriculum. The importance of SAT scores however has decreased over the last few years considering the deficiencies which have been highlighted. Some universities have become much more flexible and they have implemented the alternative use of SAT scores or ACT scores as a method of admission to the various departments of study. Some universities have recognized the fact that the performance of the students in high school levels is their best predictor of how well they will fare in the colleges. The inefficiency of standardized examination has been highlighted by some universities and they have revoked out from using the scores of this examination. The abundance in number of colleges all over America however does not prevent the use of this confusing examination pattern. The optional policies were not followed in most of the NSCE schools. Students with top scores in schools have no advantages in respect of the top scorers in SAT and finds hard to get an admission in places of their interest. The adherence to such policies holds no good as it is a not a fair judgment of the merit of the students. A research conducted revealed the fact the use of standardized test scores is popular and much wide in practice in the liberal art colleges, whereas the overall importance of the scores has increased from 46 percent to 60 percent in the year 2006. (Espenshade& Chung) Biasness of the result of the competitive exams: The biasness in the overall process of the competitive exams of the United States of America has been highlighted. Biasness occurs in various forms. The results of these examinations are biased in respect of racial discrimination and in the social status of the candidates. The effects of social status on the results have been highlighted in the previous section. It has been found that the candidates belonging from an upper class of the society tend to score better than those belonging to lower economic groups. The notion of distribution of marks based on the family income has been highlighted. Another factor which raises importance in the study is the racial discrimination in the results of these competitive examinations. Evidences support the disparities used in the scoring pattern of the African Americans and the white Americans. The SAT scores in 2002 reflected that the whites scored at an overall average of 1060 in comparison to the average of 857 secured by the black candidates. The comparison of the test scores between the different ethnic groups reflects cultural biasness by the constant low scores of the Blacks. The difference though could rise because of the level of academic preparation of the students, yet the constant rate of low scores in subsequent examinations raises some concern regarding the act of impartiality of these tests. The pattern of questioning set by examination agencies are done in such a manner which favors the white candidates. The nature of question is set such that the white candidates feel much ease in answering them. The pre testing of questions conducted by college boards allows the question makers to analyze the performance of the candidates based on the questions. Question patterns suggest that the black candidates perform well in answering difficult questions in comparison to the White Americans. Another factor which can be considered in the cultural biases evident from the scores is the interpretation of the meanings of the different vocabulary words asked in the examinations. Generally the meaning of vocabulary asked in the competitive exams are easy in nature and has various interpretation based on culture on the contrary hard vocabularies had standard definitions. The differences in the answering approach based on the questions attributed to the low scores of the black. Allegations was also raised against ETS, the question framing authority of SAT in setting questions which were already been successfully answered by the candidates in the Pres tests. It was quite evident that most of the African Americans refrained from taking coaching classes conducted by ETS. As a result the questions were known to those who took guidance from ETS. The overall biasness of the examination system proved fatal in the education system of the United States. (Woolen) The below table shows the difference of SAT marks by students originating from different race. Racial Category SAT verbal Scores SAT math’s score Total Native American 498 488 986 Asian, Asian American 511 577 1088 Latin Americans 463 465 928 White Americans 532 531 1063 Mexican Americans 453 458 911 (Shephard, 398) From the above tale it is evident that the marks achieved by the black Americans are comparatively the lowest among those appeared in the examination. Conclusion: The biasness in the examination system of the America is evident from the study. The examination procedures of SAT and GRE and their scoring pattern reflects their partiality. The adoption of such practices endangers the modern society as thousands of students over the world puts in their best effort to study in the university. The racial discrimination is also unhealthy from the humanitarian grounds as students enter colleges not based on their merits but on their social and racial status. The examination system needs to be reformed and adoption of fair examination policies should be implemented by the government. The credibility of SAT and GRE is in question and they have failed to predict the correct outcome of the performance of the students when they enter colleges. Proper utilization of talent is not done as fewer opportunities are given to a portion of the society in perusing higher studies. The pursuance of this method of education is going to harm the society in the long run. References Carter, Chris, The Case against Standardized Tests,testcritic, October, 22, 2011 from:http://testcritic.homestead.com/files/standardized_tests.html Espenshade, Thomas, J & Chung, Chang, Young, Standardized Admission Tests, College Performance, and Campus diversity, Princeton, October, 22, 2011 from:http://www.princeton.edu/~tje/files/Standardized%20AdmissionTests.pdf Elert, Glen, The SAT, aptitude or demographics, hypertextbook, October, 22, 2011 from:http://hypertextbook.com/eworld/sat.shtml#about Shepard, John, M, Sociology, Kentucky: Cengage Learning, 2009 Toch, Thomas, The Meritocracy's Caste System: What's Good and Bad about the SAT, Brookings, October, 22, 2011 from:http://www.brookings.edu/articles/1999/12politics_toch.aspx Woolen, Susan, Test Bias: The SAT in the college Admissions Process, whatkidscando, October, 22, 2011 from:http://www.whatkidscando.org/featurestories/2008/03_scoring_well/pdf/24-4-Woollen.pdf Nagatsuka, Jacqueline Myra, The decline in the admission of underrepresented minority students to selective public institutions after the implementation of anti-affirmative action legislation, New York: ProQuest, 2008 Wadsworth, Gordon, Cost Effective College: creative ways to pay for college and stay out of debt, Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2000  Sebastian, Eisla, What is the Importance of the SATs? life123, October, 22, 2011 from: http://www.life123.com/parenting/education/test-prep/how-important-is-the-sat-test.shtml Read More