Many universities and colleges dropped the requirement of an SAT or ACT score for admissions purposes. This was done in the interest of “equity”. The theory, which is essentially racist, was that for African-Americans in particular, the tests didn’t reflect their potential to do well in college. This was in reality just a way to justify admitting students with lesser qualifications on the basis of race. It is just plain illegal discrimination. And contrary to the base assumption that the tests don’t reflect on likelihood of success at the university level, a new paper finds that they do. (NBER Paper)
The authors used data from Ivy League and other high-end universities to compare high school GPA and SAT or ACT scores and first-year grades at college. The SAT or ACT scores were four times more likely to accurately predict college grades than high-school GPA was. And the tests showed no bias in terms of differential prediction in regard to students of different races or otherwise from “disadvantaged” backgrounds. Students who took advantage of college policies that did not require SAT or ACT test scores and didn’t submit them did far worse in regard to college grades. One reason high school grades have little predictive power is that high schools often have given up on real teaching and grade inflation subsequently has become rampant.
