standardized testing

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Harvard Will Again Require Test Scores for Admission

Debate has involved whether SAT and ACT help or hurt efforts to diversify student body

(Newser) - Like Yale , Dartmouth, and Brown before it, Harvard has dropped its admissions policy that made submitting standardized test scores optional. The change will apply to Harvard applicants for the fall 2025 term and beyond, after the school had said the tests would not be required for another year, the New ...

What Students Think of the New All-Digital SAT

'It's not terrible'

(Newser) - As SAT season kicks off this weekend, students across the US for the first time will take it with computers and tablets—and not the pencils they've used since the college admissions test was introduced nearly a century ago, the AP reports. It's not unfamiliar territory for today'...

Yale Reverses Course, Will Require Standardized Tests

It joins Dartmouth in the Ivy League in again focusing on tests such as the SAT and ACT

(Newser) - First, Dartmouth. Now, Yale. The latter has become the second Ivy League institution to reverse course and require standardized testing for incoming students, reports the New York Times . Both were among schools that ditched SAT and ACT requirements during the pandemic. Yale will allow students to submit scores from the...

You Can Soon Practice Law Here Without Taking Bar Exam

In 2024, Oregon will offer an apprenticeship alternative to law school students

(Newser) - If you're a law school student who breaks out in a cold sweat at the thought of taking the bar exam, good news if you live in the Beaver State: A "more inclusive" way to becoming an attorney is here, according to the head of the Oregon Board...

SAT Gets Digital Revamp
Big Changes Ahead
for SAT Test-Takers
Jan 25, 2022 12:18 PM CST

Big Changes Ahead for SAT Test-Takers

It's going digital, and it will take 2 hours instead of 3

(Newser) - As more and more colleges make the SAT optional, the test itself will be shortened and entirely digital by 2024, reports CNN . The College Board, the body behind the standardized college admissions test, says it did extensive research before making the decision. “We're not simply putting the current...

Harvard Extends Big Pandemic Change for 4 More Years

Candidates won't be required to send in their SAT, ACT scores until at least 2026

(Newser) - It was a change brought about by the pandemic, and one that Harvard University now plans on continuing for at least four more years—and maybe even for good. The New York Times reports the Ivy League school has decided to go the test-optional route, not requiring SAT and ACT...

Thousands Can Now Skip ACT and SAT Tests

Standardized testing opponents score win in California

(Newser) - In a major win for opponents of standardized testing, the University of California public university system will no longer use ACT and SAT scores as part of its admissions process. Per the New York Times , the announcement comes as part of the settlement of a lawsuit filed in 2019 by...

They Take a 9-Hour Test in China. Then a Door Opens

The University of New Hampshire will begin accepting scores from China's gaokao exam

(Newser) - Although high school students in the US might view taking the SAT or ACT as an ordeal, those college entrance exams have nothing on China’s gaokao, a grueling two-day, nine-hour test that Chinese students spend years preparing for. This year, an estimated 9.75 million students will take the...

This Major University Wants to Wipe Out the SATs

University of Chicago has become the first major school to nix testing requirements

(Newser) - The University of Chicago is becoming the first major US research university to stop requiring American undergraduate applicants to submit ACT or SAT scores, reports the AP . The decision that school officials say is designed to help even the playing field for students from low-income or underrepresented communities has been...

Poet Stumped by Standardized Questions on Her Own Poems
Poet Stumped by Standardized
Test Questions on Own Poems
in case you missed it
Jan 14, 2017 10:32 AM CST

Poet Stumped by Standardized Test Questions on Own Poems

Sara Holbrook calls Texas assessment 'big baloney sandwich'

(Newser) - If anyone can answer questions on a standardized test about the poems "The Real Case" and "Midnight," it should be Sara Holbrook—the poet who wrote them. But as the Washington Post reports, Holbrook recently took a stab at a couple of State of Texas Assessments of...

Teacher's Amazing 'Homework' Assignment Goes Viral

Ride a bike, read a book—but don't study for longer than an hour

(Newser) - Students in the UK are taking their standardized tests this week, and one teacher's "homework" assignment in advance of the testing is going viral, Mashable reports. "It is vital that you use your time this weekend wisely," reads the piece of paper handed out last week,...

Dad's Cheeky Absence Note Takes on Standardized Testing

Chicago's Jeff Jenkins said his daughter couldn't wait to get back to exams

(Newser) - A Chicago girl was sick from school on Wednesday, so her dad had to pen a note to explain her absence. And Jeff Jenkins didn't hold back in describing both why she missed class and how he feels about standardized testing, CBS Chicago reports. After noting his child had...

Va. School Finds Its Lost SATs— in Own Building

Oddly, 236 tests were in the shipping area

(Newser) - A month after 236 SATs went missing , school officials in Loudoun County, Va., found the tests yesterday—and they weren't exactly in the hands of UPS as the school had initially claimed, reports NBC Washington . Rather, they were neatly boxed up sitting in a cart in Broad Run High...

Virginia Students Told Their SAT Tests Have Vanished

Loudoun County kids who took it May 2 might have to subject themselves to it again

(Newser) - As far as anxiety-fueling tests, here's one that tops the SAT: the SAT do-over. At least 100 high schoolers in Loudoun County, Va., have been told they may have to take the SAT all over again because their tests have gone missing (some reports say 100 kids; WJLA puts...

Thousands Opt Out of Common Core Tests

Movement appears to be growing in parts of the country

(Newser) - Thousands of students are opting out of new standardized tests aligned to the Common Core standards, defying the latest attempt by states to improve academic performance. This "opt-out" movement remains scattered but is growing fast in some parts of the country. Some superintendents in New York are reporting that...

SAT Scores May Count ... in Your 40s

Companies asking job candidates for their scores, even into middle age

(Newser) - Even if you have gray hair and can't really remember taking the SATs, your scores could still come back to haunt you. The Wall Street Journal finds that companies are asking job candidates for their scores even into middle age. College entrance exam scores, says a recruitment head at...

SAT Scores: Not So Hot at Predicting College Success
SAT Scores: Not So Hot at Predicting College Success
STUDY SAYS
Feb 18, 2014 12:48 PM CST

SAT Scores: Not So Hot at Predicting College Success

High school grades a much better indicator of likely college success: study

(Newser) - The SATs were created to offer a way to help less-privileged students show their skills—but these days, the stressful tests "serve more to truncate access than to open it," says William Hiss, a former dean at Bates College. He and his team have conducted what could be...

Arne Duncan Sorry for 'White Suburban Moms' Remark

Education secretary sparks online debate over standardized testing

(Newser) - Education Secretary Arne Duncan—who upset a few people with his "white suburban moms" remark on Friday—fully back-peddled today and apologized for his "clumsy" phrasing, CNN reports. To recap, Duncan said he was fascinated by opposition to his plan for standardized testing because his opponents included "...

Linking Teacher Pay to Test Scores Is a Joke
Linking Teacher Pay
to Test Scores Is a Joke
OPINION
Apr 2, 2013 12:40 PM CDT

Linking Teacher Pay to Test Scores Is a Joke

Eugene Robinson: Corruption allegations in Atlanta prove the point

(Newser) - The huge corruption case in Atlanta schools makes one thing clear, writes Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post : It's time we put an end to the dumb idea of linking teacher pay to standardized test scores. Prosecutors say the former superintendent and others collected fat bonuses for improved scores—...

Teachers' Strike End in Sight After City Makes Concessions

Sides hoping to have school tomorrow

(Newser) - Bad news, kids of Chicago: There may be school tomorrow. Negotiators for both the city and the teachers union emerged from yesterday's talks with fresh optimism, saying they hoped to have school back in session by Friday, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. "I'm smiling. I'm very happy,...

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