What happens when more students get a chance?

We don't really know, but the pandemic may provide a few answers.

I read today that more high school seniors are applying to selective colleges and to MORE colleges and that experts say that is due to SAT and ACT tests being optional in the admissions process due to the pandemic limiting who could take those tests over the past year.

If a wider range of applicants are admitted -- and it appears that Ivy League schools will reveal who is in, who is waitlisted, and who is out on Tuesday night -- then we all will be left with questions about the importance of those national tests. Of course, there will be a lag in discovering if admitting a wider range of seniors will result in any changes in college success. It's one thing to get in, and another to do well once on the Harvard or Yale campus.

I have a suspicion that we would be pleasantly surprised at how successful an almost random selection of applicants might be, no matter the campus. I also suspect that Ivy League schools admitting students in roughly the same percentages of the American population might be the biggest single "game changer" for the future of American society across the board.

It would be a cool experiment to run, IMHO, with no real downside. Those rich white kids who would not make the cut would be "forced" to attend a great state school or some local private college and I am certain they would be fine. 

After all, they would still be rich and white and it's tough to go wrong with that combination.

I will add one caveat: critics often question the value of those standardized tests, and there are all sorts of reasons to wonder if they really can predict future success. But I have been an independent ACT panel member for many years, and my basic job is to confirm that there is one and only one correct answer for each test item (if you think about it, THAT is quite important for testing). A secondary job is to catch text items that favor one group of students over others based on experience.

That second one is challenging, since students who were lucky enough to enjoy great schools and teachers and supportive family for years really are, by definition, "advantaged." 

What is too bad is that we maintain a system that guarantees that some children will NOT receive a great education. We also live in a system that guarantees a percentage of children will not have enough to eat. 

I would hate to see my little side gig of being a test reader for ACT go away as tests lose their influence, but I am excited to see what happens when those tests are not blocking applicants and when all that tutoring for well-do-do kids loses power.

We should be checking the make up of this coming fall's Ivy League new freshmen on Wednesday. It's a small group of people but a solid indicator of trends.