The WFU decision was poorly thought out and I bet it will
backfire on them in the near future.
1. WFU had about 9000 applicants this year. They are going to
rely more heavily on personal interviews. They have 12 people in
admissions. That works out to be about 750 interviews per staff
person. (And we know how good are clinical judgments.)
2. WFU wants to reduce the admission bias that favors upper SES
families. So, in addition to interviews, they will rely on GPA
and extracurricular activities. But guess which group has time
to engage in all those Spirit, Junior Business Leader, drama,
soccer, band and other favored activities. Which group is
working at McDonalds after school?
I just went to my son's HS award ceremonies and the same upper
SES students got all the awards.
WFU could have taken the stance that they wouldn't weigh the SAT
as heavily in the admissions process. Instead they threw the baby
out with the bathwater.
Ken
Disclaimer: My daughter applied and was admitted to WFU. She
didn't matriculate because we couldn't afford the cost.
Mike Palij wrote:
The link below is to the NY Times story on this but other sources
are probably available:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/education/27sat.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
There are at least two implications of this decision:
(1) More colleges and universities will feel justified in dropping
standardized tests (e.g., SAT, ACT, etc.), thus, increasing the
reliance on other measures of academic abiliity and decreasing
the need for standardized tests
and
(2) If ETS, the College Board, and other test providers begin
to find their customer basis shrinking, what will happen to them
and the psychometricians and statisticians they employ?
Will psychological testing become and even more esoteric field
of study? What will happen to the undergraduate tests and
measurement course?
-Mike Palij
New York University
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Professor
Department of Psychology http://www.psych.appstate.edu
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
USA
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