ACT & SAT Optional

Some colleges are not requiring applicants to send in their SAT and/or ACT scores for acceptance. This week it was announced in the New York Times that Wake Forest and Smith College have joined a growing number of like-minded schools.

Are the ACT and SAT valid indicators of academic ability? Yes, as standardized tests they offer a measure of students learning. However, they are not the only measurement to student's ability to succeed in college. Other indicators such as high school courses taken, grades in those courses, study skills, motivation, certainty of their future career and college major, as well as recommendations, essays--- all have some bearing on students' performance and predictability of doing well in college.

Will these tests dwindle away over time---I think not. There will always be a need for educators, students, and the parent's of students wanting to have a comprehensive academic assessment of learning.

My wife, Carolyn, and I certainly have not abandoned having our college-bound kids from taking these tests. In fact, our high school junior will be taking both the SAT and ACT next month.

Choosing between colleges?

High schoool graduations are quickly approaching and a number of seniors are still deciding on which college to attend in the fall. These students have received their offers of acceptance and financial aid awards, but because they can't decide which college is best--- they're holding out until later in the summer. In order to hold-out longer, they have to send in a deposit to each of the colleges to hold their place in the entering class. This plays havoc on the efforts of the colleges to really know how is coming in the fall.

What do you think? Why the indecision?