<story><title>Report on the role of standardized test scores in undergraduate admissions [pdf]</title><url>https://home.dartmouth.edu/sites/home/files/2024-02/sat-undergrad-admissions.pdf</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ccleve</author><text>Here&amp;#x27;s the money quote:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;&amp;gt; Importantly, these test scores better position Admissions to identify high-achieving less-advantaged applicants and high-achieving applicants who attend high schools for which Dartmouth has less information to interpret the transcripts.&lt;p&gt;Precisely. SATs aren&amp;#x27;t about hurting the poor or disadvantaged. It&amp;#x27;s about &lt;i&gt;giving them a chance.&lt;/i&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>msravi</author><text>And this:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;&amp;gt; Third, under test-optional policies, some less-advantaged students withhold test scores even in
cases where providing the test score would be a significant positive signal to Admissions.
Importantly, Dartmouth Admissions uses SAT scores within context; a score of 1400 for an
applicant from a high school in a lower-income community with lower school-wide test scores is
a more significant achievement than a score of 1400 for an applicant from a high school in a
higher-income community with higher school-wide test scores. Admissions uses numerous
detailed measures of outcomes at the high school and neighborhood levels to account for these
known disadvantages. As one example, Admissions computes a measure of how each applicant
performs on standardized tests relative to the aggregate score of all test-takers in their high
school, using data available from the College Board.</text></comment>
<story><title>Report on the role of standardized test scores in undergraduate admissions [pdf]</title><url>https://home.dartmouth.edu/sites/home/files/2024-02/sat-undergrad-admissions.pdf</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ccleve</author><text>Here&amp;#x27;s the money quote:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;&amp;gt; Importantly, these test scores better position Admissions to identify high-achieving less-advantaged applicants and high-achieving applicants who attend high schools for which Dartmouth has less information to interpret the transcripts.&lt;p&gt;Precisely. SATs aren&amp;#x27;t about hurting the poor or disadvantaged. It&amp;#x27;s about &lt;i&gt;giving them a chance.&lt;/i&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>crazygringo</author><text>Which was, of course, a major justification for creating the SAT in the first place:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;First offered in 1926 by the College Board... Early proponents of the SAT argued that the admissions exam made higher education more meritocratic. Admissions officers at elite institutions like Harvard believed the test would identify talented applicants at less academically strong high schools and accelerate their journeys into higher education.&lt;/i&gt; [1]&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bestcolleges.com&amp;#x2F;blog&amp;#x2F;history-of-sat&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bestcolleges.com&amp;#x2F;blog&amp;#x2F;history-of-sat&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>