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Here's just an example of some of our tweets filled with more information about why GPA > SAT! Check us out @TeamGPAnotSAT -E

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Check out Megan and Emma! Working hard in English 1030. We asked them- do you feel like those many standardized tests you took in high school are helping you succeed in this class? Megan said, "not at all! I definitely feel like the work skills I use daily come from the hard work I applied to my GPA in high school (definitely not my standardized tests)!"

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Cartoon on the reality of standardized testing

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Cartoon on the reality of standardized testing

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(image: http://whatsnewbuffalo.com/Schools3)

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How does an SAT score help examine these qualities of an individual??

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How does an SAT score help examine these qualities of an individual??

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It doesn't. -M

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FOX News - "GPA vs. SAT Score: Which is More Important?"

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FOX News - "GPA vs. SAT Score: Which is More Important?"

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"Good grades in high school not only matter when applying to college, they’re also an indicator of a student’s performance in college. "

This article from FOX Business explains how a great SAT score doesn't qualify a student as hardworking and "high achieving".  Additionally, the article provides numerous cases as to why a high GPA describes a student's academic ability more accurately than a standardized test score.

-M

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Students who think they're going to slide by in high school with barely-passing grades, but nail the SATs to get into the college of their choice, better think twice.

The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) finds that there is virtually no difference in college graduation rates among students who did and did not submit standardized test scores. It's a student's high school GPA that can play a role in college success.

The NACAC recently released " Defining Promise: Optional Standardized Testing Policies in American College and University Admissions," which analyzed colleges with "test optional admission policies," meaning students don't necessarily have to submit their SAT and ACT scores to apply.

Good grades in high school not only matter when applying to college, they're also an indicator of a student's performance in college. The report finds college and university cumulative GPAs closely track students' high school grades, despite major variations in standardized test scores. If a student consistently does well throughout high school, that is a bigger gauge of their performance in college than comparative SAT and ACT scores, the NACAC reports.

The study looked at the potential outcomes of optional standardized testing policies in admissions offices at 33 public and private colleges and universities based on cumulative GPA and graduation rates of 123,000 students. In the past decade, hundreds of institutions have made admissions testing optional, and the NACAC claims the study is the first major published research to evaluate optional testing policies.

The report concludes the differences between submitters and non-submitters at graduation were "trivial" within .05 of a GPA point, and 0.6 of 1% percent in graduation rates.

Elizabeth Heaton, senior director at College Coach, says the debate over GPA vs. SAT scores in the application process will continue.

"People always predict there is predictive value in test scores, but it turns out students are graduating with similar GPAs [to their high-school GPAs]," Heaton says. "In many cases, students may not be submitting their SAT or ACT scores because they are not as good as their school grades."

She advises students with low test scores weigh their option of going the test-optional route. But also know it may limit choice.

"High test scores and low high-school GPAs mean a student may have the aptitude and capability, but the higher GPA is just a better indicator of how they would fare in college," she says.

That being said, the vast majority of colleges and universities still require students submit their test grades. Every year a handful of schools join the test-optional ranks, according to Heaton, but it's unlikely this will become a nationwide trend anytime soon.

"People should be aware that there are options, and if you know your child has test scores aren't close to what they are capable of in the classroom, they should look for schools that have test-optional policies," she says. "But I don't recommend that students not take standardized tests. It just narrows your options."

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GPA vs. SAT Scores: Which is More Important?

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Students who think they're going to slide by in high school with barely-passing grades, but nail the SATs to get into the college of their choice, better think twice. The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) finds that there is virtually no difference in college graduation rates among students who did and did not submit standardized test scores.

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So...according to this article, the new SAT format is supposed to be a better standard for what "real life studies" are like. However, standardized tests are still standardized tests. Although a new format could help include broader subjects and more useful topics, the social stigma behind standardized tests still needs to change. -B.

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Saying its college admission exams do not focus enough on the important academic skills, the College Board announced on Wednesday a fundamental rethinking of the SAT, ending the longstanding penalty for guessing wrong, cutting obscure vocabulary words and making the essay optional.

The president of the College Board, David Coleman, criticized his own test, the SAT, and its main rival, the ACT, saying that both had "become disconnected from the work of our high schools."

In addition, Mr. Coleman announced programs to help low-income students, who will now be given fee waivers allowing them to apply to four colleges at no charge. And even before the new exam is introduced, in the spring of 2016, the College Board, in partnership with Khan Academy, will offer free online practice problems and instructional videos showing how to solve them.

The changes are extensive: The SAT's rarefied vocabulary challenges will be replaced by words that are common in college courses, like "empirical" and "synthesis." The math questions, now scattered across many topics, will focus more narrowly on linear equations, functions and proportional thinking. The use of a calculator will no longer be allowed on some of the math sections.

The new exam will be available on paper and computer, and the scoring will revert to the old 1,600-point scale - from 2,400 - with top scores of 800 on math and 800 on what will now be called "evidence-based reading and writing." The optional essay, which strong writers may choose to do, will have a separate score.

Once the pre-eminent college admissions exam, the SAT has lost ground to the ACT, which is based more directly on high school curriculums and is now taken by a slightly higher number of students. Last year, 1.8 million students took the ACT and 1.7 million the SAT.

The new SAT will not quell all criticism of standardized tests. Critics have long pointed out - and Mr. Coleman admits - that high school grades are a better predictor of college success than standardized test scores. More colleges have in recent years become "test optional," allowing students to forgo the exams and submit their grades, transcripts and perhaps a graded paper.

For many students, Mr. Coleman said, the tests are mysterious and "filled with unproductive anxiety." And, he acknowledged, they inspire little respect from classroom teachers: only 20 percent, he said, see the college-admission tests as a fair measure of the work their students have done.

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Among other changes, the new test will not ask students to define arcane words, relying instead on vocabulary used in college courses. Credit Paul Vernon/Associated Press

Mr. Coleman came to the College Board in 2012, from a job as an architect of the Common Core curriculum standards, which set out the content that students must master at each level and are now making their way into school.

He announced plans to revise the SAT a year ago and almost from the start expressed dissatisfaction with the essay that was added in 2005. He said he also wanted to make the test reflect more closely what students did in high school and, perhaps most important, rein in the intense coaching and tutoring on how to take the test that often gave affluent students an advantage.

"It is time for the College Board to say in a clearer voice that the culture and practice of costly test preparation that has arisen around admissions exams drives the perception of inequality and injustice in our country," Mr. Coleman said Wednesday. "It may not be our fault, but it is our problem."

While test-preparation companies said the SAT was moving in the right direction, with more openness and more free online test preparation, the changes were unlikely to diminish the demand for their services. "People will always want an edge," said Seppy Basili, a vice president of Kaplan Test Prep. "And test changes always spur demand."

The suggested changes were well received among many educators, but Mr. Coleman's comments about the ACT drew harsh words from an executive of that company.

"David Coleman is not a spokesman for the ACT, and I acknowledge his political gamesmanship but I don't appreciate it," said Jon Erickson, president of ACT's education division. "It seems like they're mostly following what we've always done."

Philip Ballinger, the director of undergraduate admissions at the University of Washington, said he admired Mr. Coleman's heartfelt "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" approach to improving the SAT and appreciated the effort to tame the test-prep industry.

"It's absurd, and that's the nicest thing I can call it, how much test prep has grown and how guilt-ridden parents have become about trying to prepare their kids for the test," Mr. Ballinger said. "If this helps test prep become learning, not gaming, well, shoot, that's great. "

Some changes will make the new SAT more like the ACT, which for the last two years has outpaced the SAT in test takers. Thirteen states administer the ACT to all public high school juniors, and three more are planning to do so. The ACT has no guessing penalty, and its essay is optional. It also includes a science section, and while the SAT is not adding one, the redesigned reading test will include a science passage.

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David Coleman Credit Angel Franco/The New York Times

But beyond the particulars, Mr. Coleman emphasized that the three-hour exam - three hours and 50 minutes with the essay - had been redesigned with an eye toward reinforcing the skills and evidence-based thinking that students should be learning in high school, and moving away from a need for test-taking tricks and strategies. Sometimes, students will be asked not just to select the right answer but to justify it by choosing the quotation from a text that provides the best supporting evidence for their answer.

The revised essay, in particular, will shift in that direction. Students now write about their experiences and opinions, with no penalty for incorrect assertions, even egregiously wrong ones. In the future, though, students will receive a source document and be asked to analyze it for its use of evidence, reasoning and persuasive or stylistic technique.

The text will be different on each exam, but the essay task will remain constant. The required essay never entirely caught on with college admissions officers. Many never figured the score into the admission decision and looked at the actual essays only rarely, as a raw writing sample to help detect how much parents, consultants and counselors had edited and polished the essay submitted with the application.
The Key Changes
These will be among the changes in the new SAT, starting in the spring of 2016:

■ Instead of arcane "SAT words" ("depreciatory," "membranous"), the vocabulary definitions on the new exam will be those of words commonly used in college courses, such as "synthesis" and "empirical."

■ The essay, required since 2005, will become optional. Those who choose to write an essay will be asked to read a passage and analyze the ways its author used evidence, reasoning and stylistic elements to build an argument.

■ The guessing penalty, in which points are deducted for incorrect answers, will be eliminated.

■ The overall scoring will return to the old 1,600-point scale, based on a top score of 800 in reading and math. The essay will have a separate score.

■ Math questions will focus on three areas: linear equations; complex equations or functions; and ratios, percentages and proportional reasoning. Calculators will be permitted on only part of the math section.

■ Every exam will include, in the reading and writing section, source documents from a broad range of disciplines, including science and social studies, and on some questions, students will be asked to select the quotation from the text that supports the answer they have chosen.

■ Every exam will include a reading passage either from one of the nation's "founding documents," such as the Declaration of Independence or the Bill of Rights, or from one of the important discussions of such texts, such as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter From Birmingham Jail."

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: A New SAT Aims to Realign With Schoolwork. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe

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A New SAT Aims to Realign With Schoolwork

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Saying its college admission exams do not focus enough on the important academic skills, the College Board announced on Wednesday a fundamental rethinking of the SAT, ending the longstanding penalty for guessing wrong, cutting obscure vocabulary words and making the essay optional.

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"Cultural factors, unfamiliarity with testing methods, test anxiety, and illness can wreak havoc with how well a student performs."

This article from Whitby School explains why standardized tests do not fully reveal the intelligence of a student, because it is 3 hours of their life to determine their next 4 years. Testing anxiety affects a large portion of students, negatively affecting their scores. -E

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Standardized testing has ignited a national debate in the last few years (or decades), and many parents feel understandably concerned about their children being judged on the basis of tests that, in some cases, don't seem to reliably correlate with actual learning or with successful college and career outcomes.

In the United States, both public and private schools use standardized assessments each school year. In public schools, students must undergo many tests to ensure they are meeting state or federal standards. Private schools have more leeway, although at Whitby we do require our students from Grade 2 on to complete the Comprehensive Testing Program from the Educational Records Bureau and the International Schools Assessment from the Australian Council for Educational Research.

At Whitby, we believe that standardized testing can benefit students-as long as it's looked at in the right light. Below we'll discuss some of the benefits of standardized assessments, as well as some of the ways standardised assessments can be negative for students.

The Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing

Pro # 1. Standardized testing is a metric for learning

When Whitby students are assessed through standardized testing, we gain a valuable metric we can use to check the quality of our curriculum. With exams created and given by an independent organization, standardized test scores are useful because they come from a neutral source and give us data that we can compare to other independent schools across the United States and with other international schools across the globe.

Pro # 2. Standardized testing helps pinpoint areas for improvement

When we receive standardized test data at Whitby, we use it to evaluate the effectiveness of our education program. We view standardized testing data as not only another set of data points to assess student performance , but also as a means to help us reflect on our curriculum. When we look at Whitby's assessment data, we can compare our students to their peers at other schools to determine what we're doing well within our educational continuum and where we need to invest more time and resources.

Pro # 3. Standardized tests can help schools evaluate progress

Assessment data is also useful for year-over-year internal comparisons. We compare data over a number of years to find trends-and then trace any changes back to their source. If the math scores of our fourth grade students suddenly jump, we want to identify what change led to the improved performance, and how we can continue to implement this within our curriculum. We're also able to use a student's historical assessment data to monitor their progress and uncover any challenges they may need to overcome (as well as identifying places where they have already improved and excelled.)
Now let's take a look at what we view as the most concerning aspects of standardized assessment:
Con #1. Test scores can impact confidence

A big disadvantage of standardized testing is that it's easy to interpret a student's score as the sole judgement of that student's ability. We're constantly emphasizing at Whitby that the number is only one point of data within an array of internal assessments across many subject areas that provide us with information on a student's learning progress. There are many cases where students have demonstrated clear understanding within a subject or concept through various assessments, but aren't as skilled at taking multiple choice tests. Nevertheless, it can be hard on a student if they feel that they didn't perform as well as they'd like. In worst case scenarios, instead of determining the entire picture of learning through a review of all assessment data with their teachers, a student might determine their success based on a standardized test score that is taken once a year..

Con #2. There's pressure to "teach to the test"

When standardized exams become all important in a school or district, it has a massive impact on teaching and learning. Educators frequently start "teaching to the test" if they feel that their evaluations (and jobs) solely depend on how well students perform. Educators may also stop trying new techniques and teaching methods in the classroom. With every minute counting on the way to their students' next exam, teachers will worry that an untested method will backfire and their students will score worse than before. This comes at the cost of inquiry, engagement, creativity and risk taking in student learning.

Con #3. Scores don't provide a true picture of a student's ability

Far too many people wrongly assume that standardized testing data provides a neutral authoritative assessment of a child's intellectual ability. Cultural factors, unfamiliarity with testing methods, test anxiety, and illness can wreak havoc with how well a student performs. For that reason, it's important to dig deeper when looking at a student's test scores. Does a low score indicate a lack of knowledge about the subject or a problem with taking the standardized test? For example, an excellent writer could struggle with picking out the right answer in a multiple choice grammar and punctuation test. Yet that same student could excel at composing well-thought out, logical essays about the literature they read and enjoyed in class.

It's also easy to assume that students who score high in math are good at processing information and reasoning abstractly, but that's not always the case. In fact, researchers have found that high standardized scores have little correlation with memory, attention and processing speed. High test scores could simply mean a student excels at rote memorization and multiple choice test taking.

Our Final Assessment

Standardized testing is truthfully a very difficult issue, because we do need internal and external assessments to measure student success. Assessments are useful when they're used as data to help schools improve the quality of the teaching and learning. They become harmful, however, when tests are used to judge students' natural abilities and when educators are put under pressure to "teach to the test." Schools and parents should always look at standardized tests not as a value judgement on the student, but as an additional data point that can provide some perspective on student learning.

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The Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing

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Standardized testing has ignited a national debate in the last few years (or decades), and many parents feel understandably concerned about their children being judged on the basis of tests that, in some cases, don't seem to reliably correlate with actual learning or with successful college and career outcomes.

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13 Ways Standardized Tests Can Hurt Students

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13 Ways Standardized Tests Can Hurt Students

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This article written by The Washington Post gives a general list of the reasons why standardized testing can do more harm than good. -S

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It's time for March Madness - not the famous college basketball tournament but the start of high-stakes standardized testing season in many school districts around the country. I've published many posts on how standardized test scores are inappropriately used to evaluate students, educators and schools, but there are plenty of other costs to students as well. Here are 13 ways that high-stakes standardized testing harms students, from the Yinzercation blog by Jessie B. Ramey. She is the parent of two children in Pittsburgh public schools and a historian of working families, gender, race and U.S. social policy and teaches women's studies and history at the University of Pittsburgh.

By Jessie B. Ramey

As we enter the March Madness of testing season, many parents and teachers have become increasingly concerned that the high-stakes attached to so many tests are actually harming our students and schools. There is particular concern about the disproportionate impact high-stakes-testing may be having on our poorest students, most struggling students, English Language Learners, and students of color.

So what are the "high-stakes" for students in high-stakes testing? Examples we've been hearing from parents and educators across Pennsylvania include:

Lost learning time: There's less time for learning with testing and test prep (for example, Pittsburgh students now take 20-25, or more, high-stakes tests a year, with new tests this year in art and music).

Reduced content knowledge: Students are learning how to take high-stakes-tests, but cannot demonstrate subject mastery when tested in a different format. [Koretz, 2008]

Narrowed curriculum: With a focus on reading and math scores, students lose history, world languages, the arts, and other programs.

Shut out of programs: Stakes exclude students when test results count as extra weight in magnet lotteries or for entrance to gifted programs or advanced courses.

Diverted resources: Schools that perform poorly on high-stakes-tests are labeled "failures" and sometimes have resources taken away from them. The hundreds of millions of dollars spent on testing in Pennsylvania are not available for classroom education.

School closures: Schools labeled as "failing" on the basis of test scores can be threatened with closure. These schools are usually in communities of color.

Loss of curiosity and love of learning: Bubble tests are developmentally inappropriate for the youngest learners. Emphasis on "skill drill and kill" fails to stimulate children's imagination and limits their natural curiosity.

Blocked access to facilities: Many schools find their computer labs taken over by testing for weeks on end and not available for learning.

Harmful stress: Children are pressured to not only demonstrate their knowledge but to represent the effectiveness of their teachers and their schools. Teachers are reporting children throwing up, losing control of their bowels, and increased commitments for psychiatric and anxiety issues.

Internalized failure: Struggling students who are forced to repeatedly take normed tests (which are designed to fail a certain portion of test-takers) begin to believe they are "bad" or "worthless" students who cannot succeed in school.

Grades: Some high-stakes tests are included in students' grades.

Graduation requirements: The NAACP has protested Keystone graduation exams, saying they force too many children out of school on the basis of a single score.

Altered school culture: Schools must empty their walls and hallways for many weeks. Classes are under lock-down with limited access to restrooms, and some schools turn to daily announcements or even pep rallies to "prepare" students for testing.

What else?

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13 ways high-stakes standardized tests hurt students

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It's time for March Madness - not the famous college basketball tournament but the start of high-stakes standardized testing season in many school districts around the country. I've published many posts on how standardized test scores are inappropriately used to evaluate students, educators and schools, but there are plenty of other costs to students as well.

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MicDaily - 5 Reasons We Should Eliminate the SAT

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MicDaily - 5 Reasons We Should Eliminate the SAT

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"The much-anticipated test has no place in our society anymore, though. The SAT is a terrible, overstressed measurement for college admission and it is totally ineffective in actually analyzing the students themselves."

In this article from MicDaily, Jeff Raines provides the reader with five prominent reasons as to why the SAT should be eliminated. In addition to bashing the effectiveness of this test, he proposes five alternate solutions that provide a more accurate depiction of the student during the college application process. -M

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It's easy to shudder at the memory of the SAT, the dreaded test that's supposed to determine the future of a nervous, impressionable high school student. The much-anticipated test has no place in our society anymore, though. The SAT is a terrible, overstressed measurement for college admission and it is totally ineffective in actually analyzing the students themselves. Here are some reasons why we should scrap it from the college admission process.

1. Studies show that test-taking abilities don't properly gauge a student's ability to perform

One study found that average SAT scores increase with every $20,000 in additional family income - quite the measure of intelligence or accessibility? And if you think about it, if you were able to take any kind of preparatory class or tutoring session, it also proves how coachable of the test is.

Sure the SAT requires most of us to develop a work ethic to actually study for the exam, but studying for the SAT completely translatable into the method you would take to write a college essay. Now I know I'm going to get some "challenge-accepted" comment for this, but for the most part you probably shouldn't be writing any college essays in the time it you have for the SAT essay.

Also, let's talk stress. Yes, the SAT is stressful (especially if you have the misconception/perception that your scores will make or break your admission in your top choice), but it's not like college. You never have just one shot for something in a college class. And even if you do poorly on a major assignment, many professors are nice enough help you find a way to still do all right in the class if you ask.

2. SAT vocabulary words are hated by college professors

Seriously, my whole freshmen year of college (well not quite because I did learn my lesson eventually) all my professors would give me back paper primarily tell me to stop using big words and instead focus more on getting my point across in a succinct, understandable way. Also, most professors just assume that you are trying too hard to convey a sense of knowledge or that you used a thesaurus. Also, I'm pretty sure if you use a word they don't know offhand that it doesn't help your grade because you made them pull out a dictionary.

3. Your high school grades are going to matter more

I may be about to start my senior year of college, but I'm pretty sure that they still don't give you any math credit for scoring high on your SAT, let alone allow your reading scores to get you out of that awful freshmen year English class.

If you are apply to the engineering school some school, let's say Rose Hulman, they are going to want to see how you did in physics and any upper-level/advanced science class a lot more than your aptitude at the SAT math section.

In fact where is the real measurement of your love for history or any other humanity in the SAT? How can you show your ability to do chemistry or biology from a test that doesn't cover that at all?

Also, your GPA is a better predictor of not just performance in college, but your graduation.

4. If you want to take tests, take AP or IB

Now AP tests have problems themselves (pg. 25-26 in the link), but they do show your ability to master a subject and many AP/IB classes (depending on how they were taught to you in high school) are more representative of the material you'll cover in college. With the exception of potentially taking the SAT at a college campus and hating the fact that you are taking such a long exam, the SAT is not representative of anything you'll express in a college classroom.

5. Many colleges admit that the most important thing in your application is your essay

The personal essay, whether you hated it or loved it is a better indication of who you are than your ability fill in bubbles over a 4-hour time period. Writing shows your personality, your ability to express yourself, what you care about, and ideally what makes you said out from the other thousands of applicants.

Just to give examples, I had friends get into college with essays revolving around crayons and ladybugs.

5 Solutions (some can and probably should be combined):

1. Abolish the SAT (probably the ACT while you're at it) and have college admissions focus on the other aspects of the college application, the essays, grades, interviews, and recommendations

2. Focus on the other aspects of the college application and remove taking the SAT/ACT as an application requirement

3. Add another essay to the college application to prompt more individual insight and creativity

4. Promote and focus on more worthwhile college test indicators, the AP and IB tests or even the SAT subject tests

5. Remake the SAT test around the SAT subject test and perhaps keep the writing section of the original exam

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It's easy to shudder at the memory of the SAT, the dreaded test that's supposed to determine the future of a nervous, impressionable high school student. The much-anticipated test has no place in our society anymore, though. The SAT is a terrible, overstressed measurement for college admission and it is totally ineffective in actually analyzing the students themselves.

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This report done by CNN looks closer at a Long Island high school senior who was accepted into all twelve colleges he applied to, including every single ivy. In addition to having an outstanding GPA, this student participated on the track team, an acappella group, as well as volunteering at a local hospital. Despite the great description his GPA and extracurriculars provide the admissions offices with, this student additionally had to send in his SAT score. This video provides great examples and statistics as to why his SAT score was simply unnecessary.  -M

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"One Last Thing" - Smerconish suggests SAT's ought not carry tremendous significance during college admissions process

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"To sum up, we don’t learn much from standardized accountability, and we have lost a great deal by giving it so much prominence."

This article from Education  Week argues that standardized testing has too much pressure placed upon it. It does not argue that they should be completely done away with, however it does argue that they are way too important to schools. -E