How Successful Have Test-Optional Schools Been in Diversifying Student Populations?
For over 5 decades, colleges and universities have been debating whether to keep, modify, or discard their standardized testing policies. This was long before anyone imagined the potential impact a global pandemic would end up having on the entire college admissions landscape.
Test-Optional Policies & Diversity: Educational Research Results
When searching for the beginning of the conversations about removing standardized tests as a college entry requirement, many point to 1969 when Bowdoin College dropped their standardized testing requirements for admissions. The idea gathered steam over time with other colleges seeing the elimination of test scores as a means of increasing student diversity. However, while diversifying our college campuses and leveling the playing field for students—no matter their socioeconomic background—is and should always be a priority for schools, there’s very little evidence to demonstrate that discarding standardized test scores has made any significant difference in diversifying student populations.
In fact, in the April 2021 edition of the American Educational Research Journal, a study was published showing that the shift to test-optional policies increased the Black, Latino, and Native American student population by only 1% at approximately 100 colleges and universities between the 2005-06 and 2015-16 school years. For the most part, it was found that “Tests-optional policies enhance the perceived selectivity, rather than the diversity, of participating institutions.”
Correspondingly, in their co-edited book, Measuring Success: Testing, Grades, and the Future of College Admissions, Dr. Jack Buckley (former VP for research and evaluation at the College Board) and Rebecca Zwick (statistician and researcher in educational assessment and psychometrics) argue that schools that accept standardized test scores actually improve their campus diversity.
Zwick’s analysis, in particular, offers a caution for standardized testing critics who believe that placing more weight on other elements such as grades and extracurricular activities in place of assessing test scores doesn’t adequately solve diversity challenges. In many cases, grades and access to the types of extracurriculars that admissions departments are looking for are as equally (if not more so) dependent upon socioeconomic circumstances and ethnicity as standardized tests and test prep.
These research findings and data points make a sound argument in favor of requiring or—at the very least, considering—standardized test scores.
Need more convincing? Let’s take it a step further and look at actual ratings and stats.
Current College Diversity Ratings, Polls, and Populations
Based on the most recent collected data, some of the most diverse colleges in America are still requiring applicants to submit test scores. Let’s take a look at a few of those schools, their diversity ratings, and the statistical breakdown of their ethnic diversity.
1. Nyack College: A+ Diversity Rating
Ethnic Diversity Poll: 88% of students say the student body is very diverse in ethnic heritage. 76% of students say the student body is very diverse in national origin (international students).
Racial Diversity:
30 % African American
8% Asian
29% Hispanic
6% International (Non-Citizen)
3% Multiracial
3% Unknown
21% White
2. Swarthmore College: A+ Diversity Rating
Ethnic Diversity Poll: 89% of students say the student body is very diverse in ethnic heritage. 96% of students say the student body is very diverse in national origin (international students).
Racial Diversity:
7% African American
16% Asian
12% Hispanic
13% International (Non-Citizen)
7% Multiracial
4% Unknown
40% White
3. Columbia University: A+ Diversity Rating
Ethnic Diversity Poll: 86% of students say the student body is very diverse in ethnic heritage. 88% of students say the student body is very diverse in national origin (international students).
Racial Diversity:
8% African American
17% Asian
13% Hispanic
17% International (Non-Citizen)
6% Multiracial
3% Unknown
37% White
4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: A+ Diversity Rating
Ethnic Diversity Poll: 86% of students say the student body is very diverse in ethnic heritage. 77% of students say the student body is very diverse in national origin (international students).
Racial Diversity:
6% African American
26% Asian
14% Hispanic
12% International (Non-Citizen)
7% Multiracial
2% Unknown
33% White
In addition to these four schools, Stanford University and Andrews University also have A+ Diversity Ratings and require standardized test scores.
Among those top-rated schools for diversity, Lynn University, Monmouth University, Amherst College, and New York University all have solid Diversity Ratings and consider submitted test scores with applications.
Straight From the Horse’s Mouth
Back in the spring of 2020, we discussed the University of California’s bombshell report that found:
“... evidence that UC’s use of test scores played a major role in worsening the effects of disparities already present among applicants and did find evidence that UC’s admissions process helped to make up for the potential adverse effect of score differences between groups.”
The UC’s Standardized Testing Task Force (STTF) deduced,
“Analysis of admissions results by the Task Force concluded that UC takes into account students’ contexts when evaluating test scores. Applicants from less advantaged demographic groups are admitted at higher rates for any given test score as a result of comprehensive review, which is a process that evaluates applicants’ academic achievements in light of the opportunities available to them and takes into consideration the capacity each student demonstrates to contribute to the intellectual life of the campus.”
Remarking on the UC Task Force’s findings, the Academic Chair Kum-Kum Bhavnani noted,
“The unexpected outcome of the statistical analyses in the Report is that the way in which the UC draws on test scores – in the context of the 14 elements that make up UC’s holistic review for admissions – suggests that, because each applicant’s test scores are viewed within the applicant’s local context, they offer a means for protecting the diversity of the applicant pool.”
What Do These Findings Mean for Students and Schools?
If we’re being honest, privileged students will always have access to better education, extracurriculars, and opportunities than underprivileged students. If standardized tests are taken away, advantaged students and their parents will simply shift to pushing for higher grades and GPAs, advanced coursework, and tack on more extracurriculars to pad college applications. Standardized testing is helping disadvantaged students have a fighting chance to gain entrance into their choice schools; opening doors that otherwise would be closed to them.
In a nutshell, creating collegiate environments wherein students are not only accepted but thrive regardless of their parental socioeconomic beginnings is an issue that goes beyond attaining and submitting ACT® or SAT® scores. What the research and data tell us is that the schools that successfully foster diversity are the ones in which students are evaluated holistically and fairly. When students' achievements are weighed in tandem with their perceived social and economic opportunities, it is possible to cultivate a diverse and well-represented student body. Test scores serve as additional metrics in that process by giving admissions officials additional data points with which to develop as complete a picture of each applicant as possible.
Standardized testing policies are not the make-or-break feature when it comes to cultivating diversity in American colleges. Testing is simply one of many elements that can be used to evaluate and create an atmosphere conducive to equitable education should a college or university make it a priority to do so.
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