Students and Teachers Question Relevancy of SAT
San Jose Unified School District continues funding SAT prep and the SAT test.
By Abigail Shlimenzon
San Jose Unified School District continues funding SAT prep and the SAT test.
By Abigail Shlimenzon
Standardized tests, specifically the SAT, have been used within the educational system for years as a way to test students’ intelligence and rate them on a standardized scale. However, as with many other things, the pandemic completely changed the use of standardized tests for college admissions.
At the beginning of the pandemic many public and private universities made standardized test scores optional. However all UC schools made the decision to go completely test blind in Fall 2021. Other top schools such as Cornell University, California Institute of Technology and Amherst College also went test blind. In addition, many other schools have implemented a test optional policy that ensures that students’ applications are not as strongly affected by test scores. These policies have proven helpful to many students who were not given equal opportunities during the test taking process, however, they also made the SAT less useful and seen as more insignificant.
Despite all these changes, the district has continued to fund the SAT and SAT preparation programs. Some teachers, such as English teacher Michelle Bowman, believe that although the SAT is less important now, the school should continue funding it in order to keep other tests.
“When the school started funding the SAT they also started funding the AP tests, so if a condition of paying for the AP test is we have to keep the SAT, then I would say we have to keep it,” said Bowman. “But I don’t think that the SAT is really important and it is not a factor in many college acceptances.”
Students have also found that the SAT is not a good measurement of intelligence and should not be mandated by the district.
“The SAT measures how good you are at taking tests rather than how smart you are, so schools shouldn’t place as much emphasis on it,” said Benny Locsin, 12.
In previous years teachers taught SAT prep during school time but the school now offers a free online SAT prep program in an effort to make it easier for students to prepare for the test.
“Some 11th grade students were given the opportunity to participate in the Kaplan SAT prep class and then once we filled spots for the invited students it was opened up to the entire junior class,” said academic counselor Nicole Pearson.
Although this SAT prep course is meant to help students, many people on campus feel that the funds could be used for other things.
“I think we should totally spend more money on teachers and classroom supplies because I feel like if we are learning better in classrooms we will do better in college, which is more important than seeing how well we can do on a test,” said Abigail Kifle, 12.
Although the SAT has become less and less relevant due to colleges not using it as much during the college admissions process, it can still be useful to students in various cases.
“Once you take the SAT your name is kind of filtered through other things and one of my students who did not apply to Harvard was called and asked to apply, and he did and he went to Harvard,” said Bowman. “The other thing is many scholarships are based on your SAT score. And the other good thing is that if your grades are shaky or low and you have a really high SAT score, it can balance that out a little bit.”
At the beginning of the pandemic many public and private universities made standardized test scores optional. However all UC schools made the decision to go completely test blind in Fall 2021. Other top schools such as Cornell University, California Institute of Technology and Amherst College also went test blind. In addition, many other schools have implemented a test optional policy that ensures that students’ applications are not as strongly affected by test scores. These policies have proven helpful to many students who were not given equal opportunities during the test taking process, however, they also made the SAT less useful and seen as more insignificant.
Despite all these changes, the district has continued to fund the SAT and SAT preparation programs. Some teachers, such as English teacher Michelle Bowman, believe that although the SAT is less important now, the school should continue funding it in order to keep other tests.
“When the school started funding the SAT they also started funding the AP tests, so if a condition of paying for the AP test is we have to keep the SAT, then I would say we have to keep it,” said Bowman. “But I don’t think that the SAT is really important and it is not a factor in many college acceptances.”
Students have also found that the SAT is not a good measurement of intelligence and should not be mandated by the district.
“The SAT measures how good you are at taking tests rather than how smart you are, so schools shouldn’t place as much emphasis on it,” said Benny Locsin, 12.
In previous years teachers taught SAT prep during school time but the school now offers a free online SAT prep program in an effort to make it easier for students to prepare for the test.
“Some 11th grade students were given the opportunity to participate in the Kaplan SAT prep class and then once we filled spots for the invited students it was opened up to the entire junior class,” said academic counselor Nicole Pearson.
Although this SAT prep course is meant to help students, many people on campus feel that the funds could be used for other things.
“I think we should totally spend more money on teachers and classroom supplies because I feel like if we are learning better in classrooms we will do better in college, which is more important than seeing how well we can do on a test,” said Abigail Kifle, 12.
Although the SAT has become less and less relevant due to colleges not using it as much during the college admissions process, it can still be useful to students in various cases.
“Once you take the SAT your name is kind of filtered through other things and one of my students who did not apply to Harvard was called and asked to apply, and he did and he went to Harvard,” said Bowman. “The other thing is many scholarships are based on your SAT score. And the other good thing is that if your grades are shaky or low and you have a really high SAT score, it can balance that out a little bit.”