New study finds high school GPA beats standardized tests

Widely held assumptions about how to measure “college readiness” are wrong, if a new study from two University of Chicago researchers is to be believed.

“The bottom line is that high school grades are powerful tools for gauging students’ readiness for college, regardless of which high school a student attends, while ACT scores are not,” said lead author Elaine Allensworth in a press release...

High School GPAs and ACT Scores as Predictors of College Completion

Key Findings

"...there is little evidence that students will have more college success if they work to improve their ACT score because most of the signal from the ACT score seems to represent factors associated with the student’s school rather than the student. 

In contrast, students’ efforts to improve their HSGPAs would seem to have considerable potential leverage for improving college readiness. 

University of California sued over SAT use in admissions

For over half a century, the SAT has been used by colleges and universities in admissions decisions. A lawsuit filed in December 2019 against the University of California system challenges this long held practice, calling the use of SAT scores in admission decisions illegal, discriminatory, and unconstitutional. On today’s show, we are joined by Elissa Nadworny, reporter and editor for NPR’s Education team who has been following the lawsuit. We are also joined by Dr.

Rethinking the English Learner achievement gap

If publicly available data are any indication, English learners (ELs) are perpetually lagging behind their native English-speaking peers academically. Indeed, report after report show that ELs consistently under-perform when it comes to statewide tests, graduation rates, course grades, and more. Notably, though, new research suggests the bleak tale of the languishing EL may be misguided.

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