More and more states are using college-entrance exams to measure student achievement, a trend examined by Education Week.
Assessment experts, including the School of Education’s Gregory Cizek, are cited in the story.
The story takes a look at how college-entrance exams are different from standards-based exams, which are designed to measure mastery against state standards. Moving to the SAT or ACT means states will be shifting to measurements intended to gauge college readiness.
By giving the states the option of using college-entrance exams, the federal government was seeking to reduce testing burden by allowing SATs and ACTs to perform double duty, as many students were taking the exams already.
But, as Cizek pointed out for the story, that leaves some questions.
“We should ask what it would do to the high school experience,” Cizek said. “To be successful [in accountability], schools will have to morph their curricula into college-prep curricula. Things are going to get left out that high schools value that SAT and ACT content standards don’t.”
The story is available here.