Colleges Must be ‘Test Blind’ for Class of 2021

Colleges and universities must go ‘test blind’ for the class of 2021. Making scores ‘test optional’ is simply not enough right now. If colleges do not adopt ‘test blind’ policies’, they will create an admissions process which is inherently unfair.

In pre-pandemic times, some colleges opted to go ‘test optional’ and some dropped testing altogether. All students- not just some- had the opportunity to take entrance exams. Students had a choice. They could choose to test and they could choose to report scores.

During the current pandemic, ‘Test Optional’ admissions policies are not at all the same thing because choice has not been an option for thousands of kids across the United States. In the age of COVID-19, colleges have adopted these policies only because they were forced to. In fact, colleges have indicated to us in virtual sessions they would often prefer to have test results, but they will consider students who do not have test scores.

It is one thing if students can choose to test or not test. It is entirely another thing when students have attempted, sometimes multiple times, to take college entrance exams but have been unable to test due to circumstances completely outside of their control. Other students, however, have been able to test- sometimes more than once- through pure luck of the draw. While colleges continue to accept scores, current ‘test optional’ policies encourage families to go to extreme, costly measures, even risking their student’s health, to take the SAT or the ACT.

While colleges proclaim commitment to the need for diversity and inclusion in their admitted student bodies, the adoption of ‘test optional’ policies threaten to widen the current gap between the financial ‘haves and have nots.’

If you do not have a current rising high school senior, you probably have no idea what is going on. You may not care. You may even think ‘test optional’ is good for students. The current college entrance exam issue is something I have a vested interest in. Every time I think about the impact this policy may have on my own rising senior, I feel sick and honestly helpless because she is one of those students who stands to lose so much under current admission policies.

Our Story

My daughter, Peyton, has had FIVE of the college entrance exams she signed up for cancelled. FIVE. It isn’t that she has not been trying to take a test. In fact, we have already lost money attempting to get her signed up multiple times. We haven’t always received refunds we are due. I am somewhat sympathetic to the plight of the companies who administer these tests, but the way the abysmal customer service and guidance they have provided leads me to believe these exams should no longer be used as an admissions tool. In fact, they probably should no longer be in business at all.

As you may or may not know, schools typically require scores from either the SAT with writing or the ACT with writing. In addition, many of the highly selective schools also require two SAT subject tests. All of this testing already costs plenty of money. Sending scores to universities costs even more money. And of course submitting applications to colleges requires more money. When I was a college-bound student, I applied to five colleges. Because the process is more competitive than ever, students with the financial resources sometimes apply to 20 colleges. There is absolutely no way we could afford to play that kind of college roulette.

P’s plan was to take the SAT in April 2020 and again in June 2020. Later in the summer she was going to take the SAT physics and math subject tests. She decided late in the game that she would also take the ACT because, as everyone knows, two strong scores provide additional information for college admissions committees to take into consideration. It benefits students to provide as much positive information as they can for admissions to consider.

The College Board

Of course, when COVID-19 shut down most of our country in the spring of 2020, tests were cancelled across the United States. Needless to say, P’s two scheduled SAT exams were both cancelled. The College Board, which also administers AP exams (Advanced Placement), was placed in the unenviable position of trying to find a way to administer those exams to kids who had enrolled in these high stakes AP classes. Students take these courses to demonstrate they have chosen an academically rigorous path and if students do well on the AP exam, they can earn college credit potentially saving themselves thousands of dollars in college courses. While it costs about $100.00 to take an AP exam, college credits cost exponentially more.

Class Action Lawsuit

To give students the opportunity to earn AP credits, the College Board opted to create an at-home test students could take on their own computers. While well-intentioned, this proved to be a disaster for students and, as it turns out, for the College Board itself.

While some students had no problems completing these on-line tests, many found themselves unable to submit their answers due to some kind of glitch in the system. Those students were told they would have to take the exam again in order to receive a score. Needless to say, students and parents were not pleased with how this turned out. Now the College Board faces a class action lawsuit over the AP testing debacle. (You can read more about the problems and the lawsuit here https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/05/21/college-board-sued-over-ap-exams)

As tests were cancelled across the country, the College Board promised to offer an at-home SAT option for kids if they were unable to offer the test in personal in the fall. This possibility offered a glimmer of hope for students who had already been shut out from testing more than once. However. after the problems with the AP tests, the College Board understandably announced they would no longer attempt to offer a virtual option for the SAT.

P is currently signed up to take the SAT in August, but with COVID-19 cases on the rise in many parts of the country, including our state of Colorado, I now have strong doubts the test will actually be administered. In addition, the ability to take subject tests is completely off the table because there is just no time for her to fit them in. The College Board plans to offer more testing dates in the fall and is even trying to reschedule the tests high school juniors were supposed to take at their schools as part of state required proficiency testing last spring. At this point, in-person school is still in doubt, making the administration of any testing this fall in time for admissions deadlines highly doubtful.

THE ACT: SIMPLY INEXCUSABLE

Attempts to take the ACT have been a far worse experience for our daughter and for many students across the country.

In the spring, as the SATs were cancelled, P also planned to take the ACT. Our hope was she would at least be able to get one score to submit to colleges. She was shut out of ACT exams three times. The infuriating thing is while many kids faced test cancellations, the ACT opted to allow some kids to take the test.

That Feeling You Get When Your Testing Site is Closed

Additionally, when the ACT cancelled exams, they told students they would have to register and submit payment for the new exam again. Students would be issued refunds but they could not use their previous payment to a future date. At $68, this created financial hardship for some students. Calls and emails to the ACT went unanswered. As I tried to contact the ACT, test sites in Colorado Springs filled up. Many students, including P, had to sign up to take the test in other cities, sometimes a considerable distance from their homes. Some students found themselves in the position of having to pay for hotel rooms the night before the test, because of the distance they had to travel to sit for the exam. Clearly, not every family has the resources to pay for hotel and travel. Not allowing students to apply the money they already paid to future tests adds further economic burdens to students in need.

Fortunately, but actually unfortunately, Peyton was able to sign up to take the test at CSU-Pueblo, only an hour away from where we live. One student we know signed up to take the test in a small town 2.5 hours away from where we live. When she registered, that was the closest option available to her.

Of the three testing sites in Colorado Springs, two cancelled. Kids who had registered at one school were still able to take the ACT while kids who were supposed to test at two other high schools IN THE SAME CITY were not able to test. CSU-Pueblo, P’s site, cancelled their test, shutting out P and three of her friends from testing. The girl who traveled 2.5 hours and paid for a hotel room was able to take her test, fortunately for her. Another student- a close family friend- was able to take the test in another state while she visited family.

Students faced this kind of arbitrariness all over the country. I know there were reasons why certain sites were unable to administer the test, but as you can see, being able to take the tests- or not- was a crap shoot. Some were lucky. P was not.

The Act Org: Customer Service Not a Strength

The ACT was supposed to communicate test site closures to families. Some families never received e-mails indicating their test centers were closed. Some of those families drove hours, paid for hotel rooms, meals and transportation only to find their test site was closed when they arrived at their testing location.

We, on the other hand, got an email telling us the CSU-Pueblo location was cancelled. We were told we could attempt to sign up at an alternate location. For the first 24 hours after receiving our cancellation notice, the site overloaded and crashed. I was unable to make any changes to P’s registration. When I was able to get to her account the following day, it showed that CSU-Pueblo still had open seats for students. Otherwise, the closest site was 7 hours away. I tried to contact the ACT for clarification: were there seat in Pueblo or not? The phone and chat lines were down and remained down. No one was able to reach the company by either method. I sent an email seeking clarification but did not receive a response for ten days. When I got a response it was simply copied and pasted from one of the pages on their website and did not answer my question. By then, it was too late anyway. The registration window was closed.

We were told the kids who had been shut out from testing would be given priority for future tests. Instead, high school sophomores were able to get seats at sites that remained open while juniors and seniors were unable to register. Furthermore, we did not receive any notification that P would be able to sign up a day or two prior to when the test opened to everyone. That was not an option.

We were also told she would get preferential seating when registration opened at the end of July. Instead, we never received an email when registration began. I learned registration was opened by reading angry posts from parents on Facebook. When I tried to log in, I was unable to do so. The registration page on the website crashed due to high demand. This morning, July 29th, if you attempt to log in, this is the response you get:

“Due to high demand, we’ve taken the MyACT registration page down in order to improve system performance. We’re sorry for the inconvenience. Please check back on our website and social media channels for updates.”

(CNN reports on this ACT failure here https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/28/us/act-registration-page-down-trnd/index.html)

I can guarantee I will be sitting around my computer until the registration opens (which I have been doing for hours already). Still, I have no confidence she will be able to take the ACT at all. The way they have bungled this process makes me infuriated that I feel forced to waste more time and money and emotional energy trying to get my opportunity to even register to test. This is not acceptable and it is unfair to put people in this position. I know I am ‘lucky’ to be able to sit here hitting refresh all day. I shouldn’t feel like I have to do it, however.

(For more on this, read the comments on the Facebook page ‘ACT Student’ where parents write about all they have endured trying to get their kid registered multiple times. You can see the anger and frustration here: https://www.facebook.com/theacttest/?epa=SEARCH_BOX)

Test Blind is the Only Fair Option

There is much more to this saga, but hopefully this gives a picture of what a nightmare this has turned into for college-bound students and their parents. Colleges and universities have been applauded for going ‘test optional’ this year, but few have gone ‘test blind’. I am BEGGING colleges to consider adopting the ‘test blind’ option for at least one year for the class of 2021. If schools are really trying to attract a more diverse group of students, or to have a fair admissions process, as they claim, they cannot ignore the inequities current circumstances have created. CNN reported on these problems recently, citing how current circumstances may create an even greater advantage for students coming from more financially privileged circumstances. ( read their reporting here https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/19/us/july-act-tests-canceled-trnd/index.html)

If tests are ‘optional’ due to cancellations, there is absolutely no fair way to consider admissions packets from students with scores to those without. By being ‘test optional’, kids who have scored well are able to submit scores which will bolster their admissions packet. There is no way colleges can fairly consider two students of equal strength in GPA if one is able to submit a 1500 SAT, for example, and the other student is unable to submit any score. How can you not look at the student with the 1500 and think, “Wow! What an academic superstar!”

With the knowledge that colleges will still look at scores if they are submitted, students desperate to take tests are also putting themselves and their families at risk for COVID-19 exposure. In fact, students took the most recent ACT exam when the were infected with COVID-19, exposing students and test proctors to the disease. (https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2020/07/27/act-hurt-month-unexpectedly-closed-testing-centers-and-covid-19)

Do admissions offices expect families to send their kids to unsafe testing environments so they can get in to the college of their dreams? As of right now, the answer seems to be yes.

Merit Scholarships at Risk

Not only do ‘test optional’ policies impact admissions, they also stand to shut students out of merit scholarships, which have traditionally leaned heavily on test scores. How will colleges decide who will get those much-needed merit scholarships? Potentially losing out on those merit scholarships may make colleges out of reach for many kids who deserve and need them. It is not clear to me how colleges plan to distribute merit scholarships in test optional scenarios.

While many people may be poo-pooing my concerns as insignificant, the concern that this year’s testing problems will have real impacts on real kids is not mine alone. I have spoken with many parents who share my concerns. I can only speak, however, to what we have experienced.

Here is an important thing I want you to know about my daughter. She was a very tiny baby who had to spend time in the NICU due to pneumonia as a newborn. She grew to become a still-tiny little girl who had boundless energy and sass who thought she could do anything. As she grew, I learned that, in fact, there were many things she COULD do and do well. If she couldn’t do something well, she didn’t give up. She worked so hard, fighting through tears and frustration, to get better at the hard things because she needed to prove to herself that she could do those hard things. She is tenacious and curious and interested in so many things. She has a quick wit and a beautiful soul.

When we talked about her college essays, I said, “You have been through a lot of really challenging times. Do you think you should write about stuff you have overcome?”

She replied, “I don’t want those things to be my story. I want my story to focus on the positive things about my life.”

She doesn’t want to get ahead in life wondering if people gave her things because they felt sorry for some of the difficulties she has faced. She wants to be accepted on her merits and hard work and on who she is as a person.

The Little Engine that Could.

With that, I will tell you who she is NOW. My rising senior, P, is one of the top-ranked students in her high school. At last confirmation in the spring of 2020, she was in the top 1% of her class of approximately 420 kids. She has taken a full load of college-level International Baccalaureate courses through high school and has well over a 4.0 weighted GPA, and a 4.0 unweighted. She volunteers and plays sports and tutors other students. She is a talented artist. She has participated in Knowledge Bowl, Science Olympiad and started a club at school where she teaches other students to knit.

One of my favorite paintings Peyton has created

Her scores on the ACT she took in middle school and all of the other ‘pre’ tests she took over the years (PSAT 8/9 and PSAT 10, and the PSAT) indicate she would score well on the actual college entrance exams when the time came to take them. Right now it looks likely we won’t get to test that theory.

(Interestingly, one top school encouraged her to send in test scores even if they were old. I actually even considered trying to submit her middle school ACT score. Of course I could not log in to the ACT account, so I cannot even look at that less-than-ideal option.)

Even while P has doubted her future college possibilities, she has always been encouraged, by teachers and counselors, to dream big and apply to any college she wanted because she was just as worthy a candidate as every other top student. Sure, we couldn’t pay for the expensive camps for college-bound kids other families could afford. We didn’t have the money to send her to travel to exotic locations or do humanitarian work in other countries, like other families we know were able to do. We could rarely afford a family vacation, let alone many of the experiences other families take for granted.

For families who can afford today’s tuition, current circumstances will likely create less of a negative impact. For families who have money and connections, they have likely already provided beneficial experiences which make admissions committees take notice. Admissions offices look for kids who have interesting or different backgrounds. I don’t blame them. In lieu of test scores, resumes will likely have more of an impact than ever.

“Take up a rare sport or hobby to make yourself stand out,” is a frequent bit of advice given to kids seeking admission to selective colleges. Polo? Yachting? Unpaid internship across the country at some impressive company? Great, if you can afford it! Some people DO have the resources and connections to provide their kids with those type of advantageous experiences and I do not blame them for providing their kids with this kind of leg up. But many students do not have these options.

As I look back knowing what I know now, I probably should have told my kid to start a league for Three-Legged racing. Or maybe she should have become a champion at corn hole. Those are the kinds of ‘stand out’ resume builders we could have financially managed.

As it stands, she has knitted an army of animals and enough hats to give to half of the newborns in America- or maybe at least Colorado. Is that interesting enough? I have no idea. Maybe if she finds a way to knit with her eyes closed and her hands tied behind her back that will do the trick.

The first of many knitted chickens to come.

But even though we could not help P build a resume full of stand-out activities, and even if the price tags most college options is far out of reach, she IS STILL a worthy candidate for college admissions and for merit scholarships. I just wish she had the scores to submit to help build her case.

At this time I am not even a tiny bit confident she- and other students in the class of 2021- will get the full and fair consideration they deserve. For a kid in need of any and all scholarships, without test scores, I am not sure if the full range of options she might have had a year ago is still realistically available to her. That breaks my heart every time I think about it.

While these are MY concerns for my own child, this story is far bigger and effects many children besides my own. Many families struggle to pay for college and I am in no way dismissing or minimizing anyone else’s college admissions and scholarship concerns. Rather, I am concerned for ALL students as we face a system that has become farther and farther out of reach for most families even before the pandemic. It just so happens the pandemic is making many issues worse for students, and students and their families can do nothing to change the testing problem themselves. We can debate how to make college admissions more fair in general. Going test blind is something we can do TODAY.

I realize colleges are in a difficult position. As they try to figure out how to handle the admissions process for the class of 2021, I hope they will reconsider the ‘test optional’ policy because right now that policy is unfair to many students across the country.

Colleges NEED to make admissions ‘test blind’. Otherwise talk to fairness and diversity are just empty words.

*In the time it took me to write this post, I continued checking the ACT registration site. Now, I am getting a message saying the event has ended and I can wait in line until it opens up. I am apparently now ‘free to’ sit by the computer waiting for my turn. Really. I kid you not. I don’t even know what this means or if it works. How is this company even in business?