Universities to study fairness of test-optional policies

On the strength of a US$1.4 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the University of Maryland and researchers from several other institutions are launching an intensive two-year study to determine the fairness of higher education test-optional admission policies at selective institutions, writes Chris Burt for University Business.

Kelly Rosinger, an education professor at Penn State University who is co-principal on the initiative, titled “Test-Optional Admissions Policy Equity Outcomes”, is part of a team that will assess whether the elimination of SAT and ACT requirements do enrol more diverse pools of prospective students.

At liberal arts institutions that are highly selective and are seeing huge spikes in applications, there is evidence in the researchers’ initial findings that it is not happening. “This early work indicated test-optional policies, at least in some contexts, helped institutions more than they helped students,” Rosinger said. “In doing so, these policies can end up reproducing the same inequities.”
Full report on the University Business site