克劳迪奥·桑切斯

There are now well over 1，000 colleges and universities that dont require SAT or ACT1 scores in deciding whom to admit， a number thats growing every year. And a new study finds that scores on those tests are of little value in predicting students performance in college， and raises the question： Should those tests be required at all？

Colleges that have gone “test optional” enroll—and graduate—a higher proportion of low-income and first generation-students2， and more students from diverse backgrounds， the researchers found in the study， Defining Access： How Test-Optional Works.

“Our research clearly demonstrates that these students graduate often at a higher rate，” said Steve Syverson， an assistant vice chancellor at the University of Washington Bothell， and co-author of the study.

“When a college considers going test-optional， one of the first reactions that people， including alumni， feel is that the college will be admitting less qualified students，” he added. Syverson says the study should reassure admissions officials whove decided to go test-optional.

Syverson and his team of researchers studied 28 public and private institutions that no longer require test scores， and tracked about 956，000 individual student records.

Students like Ian Haimowitz， a sophomore at George Washington University， a test-optional school in Washington D.C.

He says in the beginning， he felt like a fish out of water.

“I know for a fact Im the first Nicaraguan-American， the first Latino， the first Jewish Latino that a lot of kids meet，” he says.

He adds that when he arrived at GW， he looked around and asked himself， “What am I doing here with kids who went to private schools and got the best education possible？”

It was a very different world than he grew up in back in New Mexico.

“I remember my freshman year of high school， I didnt have a math teacher. Maybe thats why you see in my test score that I didnt have a good grounding in math. But I believed my potential was still there.”

Ian was a straight-A student in high school， but his SAT scores were so low he didnt think any top tier school would accept him. He says not having to submit his test scores opened the doors to a top selective school.

This year， George Washington received about 26，500 undergraduate applications from all over the country. Close to 20 percent did not submit their test scores， which GW says has helped enroll more students from diverse backgrounds.

Still， some researchers question the impact that test-optional admissions policies have had on schools.

Jack Buckley， a senior vice president at the American Institutes for Research， notes that while diversity improved at schools that have gone test-optional， that also happened “at the same rate among those that didnt.”

In other words， says Buckley， test-optional schools are not more effective in enrolling minorities than schools that still require test scores.

Syverson says thats not what the evidence in his study is showing. “We certainly are not arguing that everyone should abolish test scores，” he says. “Test scores do have some value.”

Syverson insists that his study shows that tests can be an obstacle not just for students who dont test well， but for students from under-served， under-represented populations.

More importantly， he adds， you can admit pretty good students by looking at something other than test scores.

Thats been the experience at George Washington University. “Our experience is actually that （students） high school performance predicts college performance extremely well，” says Forrest Maltzman， the universitys provost and chief academic officer.

Maltzman says that whatever helped students be successful in high school tends to work for them in college： “Standardized tests dont get at that.”

Two years worth of data show that students who got into GW with high test scores performed no better as freshman and sophomores than those who got in without submitting their test scores， he says.

“The added value of test scores in predicting performance today is really very very minimal，” Maltzman argues. “The best thing these tests match up with is actually family income.”

And that， says Syverson， is consistent with his teams findings. Still， he cautions that test optional policies are no panacea. Theyre just another way to make college more accessible.

“Our study clearly supports the notion that if an institution wants to do a better job serving traditionally under-served populations， test optional （policies） can provide a very useful tool.”

目前有1000多所高校在錄取学生时不要求学术能力评估测试（SAT）或美国大学入学考试（ACT）成绩，而且这样的高校在逐年增多。一项新研究发现，这两项考试成绩对预测学生入学后表现的参考价值有限。这就带出一个问题：这些考试真的必要吗？

实行“非强制性考试入学”的高校中，来自低收入家庭、“学一代”的生源录取率和毕业率更高，学生的家庭背景更多样。这是研究人员在《定义机会：非强制性考试入学运作方式》研究报告中得出的结论。

“我们的研究表明，这类学生的毕业率往往更高。”本项研究的作者之一、华盛顿大学博塞尔校区助理副校长史蒂夫·赛弗森说。

“一所大学若打算通过非强制性考试来招收学生，那么引发的第一反应会是，就连往届生也会担忧这样录取到的学生要差一等。”赛弗森表示，这一研究应该能打消本打算实行此政策的招生人员的顾虑。

赛弗森和他的研究团队调查了28所不再要求考试成绩的公立和私立大学，对95.6万名学生做了追踪调查。

就读于乔治·华盛顿大学的大二学生伊恩·哈伊莫威茨就是其中之一，位于华府的这所大学就实行非强制性考试入学政策。

他说，起初感觉自己像一条离了水的鱼儿。

“有个事儿我敢肯定，我是很多同学见到的头一个尼加拉瓜裔美国人，头一个拉丁裔美国人，头一个拉丁裔犹太人。”

他还说，刚踏进学校那会儿，四下一看，就自己问自己：“他们都是在私立学校接受过最好教育的，我来这儿掺和什么？……