Colleges Should Bring Back Testing Requirements
Plummeting student performance shows the consequences of abandoning standards.
The University of California system no longer factors SAT or ACT scores into admissions decisions.
Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America
The crisis in US K-12 public education continues to deepen, and decisions by many colleges and universities to abandon SAT and ACT scores are making it worse. Instead of demanding more accountability from high schools, colleges are expecting less.
In the latest dismal signs for students, scores on the ACT college entrance exam have fallen to the lowest level in 30 years, while fourth- and eighth-grade math and reading scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (often called the nation’s report card) show devastating declines. Taken together, these results underscore the urgency of K-12 interventions and the necessity of reinstating testing standards for college applicants.