The landscape of American higher education is becoming more competitive each year. Discussions about equity and increasing access to underrepresented student groups grows each year, particularly regarding the role of standardized testing. Some research has shown the SAT and ACT exams, the two primary college entrance exams used in the United…

Of all college admission criteria, scores on nationally normed tests like the SAT and ACT are most affected by the socioeconomic background of the student. The effect of socioeconomic background on test scores has grown substantially at University of California over the past two decades, and tests have become more of a barrier to admission of…

Presented at the AP Annual Conference (APAC) in Las Vegas, NV in July 2013. This analysis takes a close look at first-generation Advanced Placement® (AP®) test takers to better understand the needs and challenges they face on their path to college. The analysis focuses on college-bound AP test takers who also took the SAT and examines a variety of…

The article describes a test-blind admission initiative in a Chilean research university aimed at expanding the inclusion of talented, albeit educationally and socially disadvantaged, students. The outcomes of the test-blind admission cohort were compared with those of students admitted via the regular admission procedure to the same academic…

This essay critically examines the commitment of James Bryant Conant to equality of opportunity as a guide for educational practice in his own era and in contemporary society. Noted chemist, president of Harvard University from the 1930s through the early 1950s, and noted analyst of the American high school from the time of publication of his…

Colleges, once seen as beacons of egalitarian hope, are becoming bastions of wealth and privilege that perpetuate inequality. The chance of a low-income child obtaining a bachelor's degree has not budged in three decades: Just 6 percent of students from the lowest-income families earned a bachelor's degree by age 24 in 1970, and in 2002 still only…

Considered the fact that the scores of high school students taking the entrace tests for college acceptance have steadily declined. Author analyzed the validity of the testing process. (RK)

In order to facilitate efforts to evaluate the progress of black students currently enrolled in several selective colleges and/or to develop rationales for extending educational opportunity to racial minorities, a study was undertaken to focus on (1) selected characteristics of black female students entering several selective liberal arts…