Why some universities are returning to standardized testing in admissions process

AMNA NAWAZ Headlines around higher education this year have centered on protests, free speech, and student safety. But some important changes on the academic and admissions front have gotten less attention, including some schools turning back to standardized testing after deciding they would no longer require it. Paul Solman has that story for our latest series on Rethinking College. I was terrible in math. Meet Kelly Danfoss, president of Texas State University in San Marcos. When he made it to a four-year school, he was the first in his family, just like 43 percent of the 34,000 undergrads here at Texas State. So you're sympathetic to the idea that tests should be optional? Well, yes. If I had had to take the test, I probably wouldn't have gotten into college. That test, the SAT, or ACT, which for years most colleges required for admission, research having shown test scores correlate with college GPAs. But during the pandemic, many dropped the requirement. Post-pandemic, Texas State remains test-optional. And yet retention rates are still rising, while, more than ever... We look exactly like Texas, the most diverse university in the state. One that welcomes students like the president once was. We are creating greater opportunity for people to access the opportunity to get a four-year college degree. Something we know is a life-changing experience for these people. Just 40 minutes away, the University of Texas at Austin, 42,000 undergrads, average SAT, 1,355 out of 1,600. UT also went test-optional during COVID, but it's now reinstated test scores, joining a host of other schools. Why? Yes, it's already selective, says UT president Jay Hartzell. Anybody who applies from a Texas high school who's in the top 6 percent of their class is admitted. But, he emphasizes... That doesn't mean they're admitted to business or finance, for example, or computer science or liberal arts, necessarily. So we use the test scores historically to put them in the right schools and colleges. They get here, put them in the right spots to ultimately succeed. And reroute some of the automatic admits, though they might have had low test scores, and perhaps others, from difficult majors that might frustrate them, he says, even to the point of giving up. So Hartzell thinks testing can be used compassionately, and should even improve a crucial objective, graduation rates, now at about 75 percent. But Kendra Strange, who helps low-income students prepare for college, begs to differ. There's so much that goes into deciding where you want to study in college, and the test score alone doesn't necessarily indicate whether or not a student's going to be successful in one particular career major. For many students, what you find is, they're picking majors around their passion. And to Strange, passion inspires grit, which she says is the real key to success. Maybe the student didn't test well. Maybe the student is not good at timed tests. It shouldn't equate to whether or not I'm going to be successful as an engineer. Moreover, says admissions coach Yvonne Espinoza... Requiring testing can close doors for those students who don't have access to resources. When test scores are required, my students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds were much less likely to apply, because they would see what colleges were publishing on their websites as their average SAT score, and they were scoring well below that, and didn't understand that that was okay for them, because of the schools they went to, because they didn't have access to resources. I'm a first-generation student. My mom didn't graduate high school. Head of admissions and U.T. alum Miguel Wazylewski... My dad didn't go to college, and so we came from very low-income backgrounds. And so kids like he was are those he cares most about. And not only can the tests help them from being overmatched in tough courses, he says, but worse for a school as rich in resources as U.T. Austin, with test optional... We're not putting somebody into a program that could have benefited from those resources. With the re-institute of those scores, we will be able to begin providing that additional support to them. Who is not getting in now because of test scores being required? I would say that there's not a higher likelihood or unlikelihood of that student getting in. It's just another variable that we have within the application. In fact, and this is an argument you hear at other universities, like MIT, that have restored test scores, more students from poor schools may now get in, when compared to similar students from similar backgrounds in their region. People have in their head things like 1,500, 1,600 SAT scores. And so a student that doesn't achieve that level and maybe has like a 1,200 SAT may say, you know what, I'm not going to submit that information to the university. But then when we go in and contextually evaluate that student, and we see that they're in the 99th percentile of their high school with that score, that's a very meaningful figure. Moreover, the average high school grade has risen over time, shrinking the grade range, so-called grade inflation. As a result, grades can mean a lot less than they used to. While they may have had that 4.0 GPA, they're on the lower end of these standardized scores. And that helps us to be able to understand that maybe this student's going to benefit from some resources that we have available here. Like what? Things like being able to get placed into programs that put you with mentors, being able to sit down with other students and get assistance, assistance with writing, assistance with, you know, tutoring for classes that they're attending. At the outreach nonprofit Breakthrough Central Texas, they provide such help to low-income students with college dreams early on. In fifth grade, we go into schools across Central Texas and we say, hey, are you the first in your family to go to college? Are you from a traditionally underserved background? Then we want to help you on your journey. Again, Breakthrough's Kendra Strange. We recognize that food insecurity, housing insecurity, mental health support, students can't think about performing well in school if they're not eating. And so we support our students with wraparound services. Students like high school senior Samuel Batista Zamora. My parents migrated from Mexico, I think they barely graduated middle school. And they were just like, we really can't help you with this. He worried about taking the SAT because... SAT puts everybody in the same field technically, but it's like some might have more resources, some might pay for private tutors, which unfortunately we don't have that luxury. So I had to look for my own resources, spend time while balancing a job, taking care of my siblings and still trying to do extracurriculars to boost my resume. To be able to get to the schools without these SAT scores. But Batista Zamora took the test, got a 1060 the first time, then 1160, then 1310. But that last one was too late, so he submitted no scores, figuring... My extracurriculars and my grades reflected better. And he got into UT Austin. High school junior Terrence Taylor-Johnson is looking at UT too. I think my chances are pretty good. I just need to focus on my test scores more. I averaged a 1080 on the, I mean, 1060 on the first drawing, so I need to do better on the next one. How did you feel doing the test? Were you nervous? Were you not nervous? I was nervous because on the PSAT I had got an 830, but then as soon as I saw my test score, I was actually pretty happy how high it jumped. Jumped just above the national average of 1050. Back on campus at UT, freshman Aniyah Matthews, who arrived here with a relatively low score for Austin, 1090. Some of my peers, you know, have $1,000 tutors they get for their SATs. Now, me, I come from a low-income background, so there wasn't no help on that SAT. What were you applying for your major? I wanted to be a medical laboratory scientist, but thank God I didn't get into that because I realized that I do not like STEM. So, the fact that they discouraged you from what you were originally going to go into, maybe on the basis of your SAT, was a good thing? Just a little. But I feel like, though, I feel like when it comes to some students who have maybe a lower score, who genuinely have a passion and want to go into engineering, I do feel as though they definitely don't have that shot sometimes. And, thus, the question colleges face with requiring tests. Are they more or less likely to discourage the disadvantaged from pursuing their passion or even applying, wait against signals that could help with admission, lead to savvier placement, and more resources to succeed? For the PBS NewsHour, Paul Solman in Central Texas.