University Business - May 2009 - (Page 6)

EDITOR’S NOTE Whither the SAT? n late March, FairField University (conn.) became yet another of the 800 or so institutions to declare that they would not require the Sat as part of the admission package. While that number is slowly growing, about 72 percent of all colleges and universities still do require Sat or act scores. Fairfield’s move had been in the cards for some time, suggests the school’s president, Jeffrey von arx. “For several years now, Fairfield University has used a highhouse of Bowling Green state University (Ohio) holistic review process in the evaluation of our prospec- said his research suggests the holistic approach is not tive students, looking at the whole person in making an necessarily a better predictor of success than standardized procedures. highhouse, a specialist in industrial-organiadmission assessment,” he said. the various factors that influence Sat performance, zation psychology, asked why some people believe that an intuitive approach to assesssuch as family income, and a ment is superior to an analytical booming industry dedicated to SAT or no SAT? Admissions one. the answer, he said, is that Sat coaching have rendered the directors need a better they have an erroneous belief in test unreliable as a predictor of stuprediction expertise. these predent success, said von arx. way to predict success. diction “experts” rely on relaBut with record numbers of tively few pieces of information college applicants vying for limited seats, admissions directors are looking for a reliable way and generally lack the insight into how they arrived at a to put together incoming classes that will not only suc- prediction. GPas and test scores measure a certain level ceed but will also benefit the institution. the big ques- of correlation, but in adding the human element to that equation the results become less reliable, he said. tion is, does such a way exist? Still another panel reminded attendees that while the that was the focus of a two-day conference in april at Wake Forest University (n.c.) called “rethinking ad- “one size fits all” approach may not be valid with testing, missions.” Wake Forest, which was the first top-30 na- neither is it valid for individual schools. Martha allman, tional university to make the Sat optional for applicants, director of admissions at Wake Forest led a panel that disbrought together admissions directors and researchers cussed “the academic and Social Goals of admissions.” the takeaway: “each college has its own priorities, its from institutions around the country to discuss the role that standardized testing plays in the admissions process. own philosophies, and its own institutional needs, and Politics and marketing have played a big role in get- those are not the same for every college,” allman said. ting colleges to choose standardized test scores over “real “that’s really how we make decisions. that’s how one studata,” said robert Schaeffer, public education director at dent may be admitted to one college and not another.” Should standardized testing go by the wayside? Is the the national center for Fair & Open testing. he moderated a panel of experts that, he said, “demonstrated over holistic approach a better predictor of student success? and over that high school grades and high school records let’s hear what you think. are a better predictor of how students will do in college than any test score can be.” not surprisingly, there were opposing viewpoints. In a presentation called “cautions on the Use of holistic assessment: Don’t Shoot the Messenger!” Scott Write to Tim Goral at tgoral@universitybusiness.com. I 6 | May 2009 universitybusiness.com http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - May 2009

University Business - May 2009
Contents
Editor's Note
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Behind the News
Sense of Place
Money Matters
Viewpoint
Human Resources
Setting the Standard
Manageable Risk
Five Steps to a Powerful Social Networking Strategy
Higher Ed in the Recession
Community Colleges
What's New
End Note

University Business - May 2009