克勞迪奧·桑切斯

There are now well over 1，000 colleges and universities that dont require SAT or ACT1 scores in deciding whom to admit， a number thats growing every year. And a new study finds that scores on those tests are of little value in predicting students performance in college， and raises the question： Should those tests be required at all？

Colleges that have gone “test optional” enroll—and graduate—a higher proportion of low-income and first generation-students2， and more students from diverse backgrounds， the researchers found in the study， Defining Access： How Test-Optional Works.

“Our research clearly demonstrates that these students graduate often at a higher rate，” said Steve Syverson， an assistant vice chancellor at the University of Washington Bothell， and co-author of the study.

“When a college considers going test-optional， one of the first reactions that people， including alumni， feel is that the college will be admitting less qualified students，” he added. Syverson says the study should reassure admissions officials whove decided to go test-optional.

Syverson and his team of researchers studied 28 public and private institutions that no longer require test scores， and tracked about 956，000 individual student records.

Students like Ian Haimowitz， a sophomore at George Washington University， a test-optional school in Washington D.C.

He says in the beginning， he felt like a fish out of water.

“I know for a fact Im the first Nicaraguan-American， the first Latino， the first Jewish Latino that a lot of kids meet，” he says.

He adds that when he arrived at GW， he looked around and asked himself， “What am I doing here with kids who went to private schools and got the best education possible？”

It was a very different world than he grew up in back in New Mexico.

“I remember my freshman year of high school， I didnt have a math teacher. Maybe thats why you see in my test score that I didnt have a good grounding in math. But I believed my potential was still there.”

Ian was a straight-A student in high school， but his SAT scores were so low he didnt think any top tier school would accept him. He says not having to submit his test scores opened the doors to a top selective school.

This year， George Washington received about 26，500 undergraduate applications from all over the country. Close to 20 percent did not submit their test scores， which GW says has helped enroll more students from diverse backgrounds.

Still， some researchers question the impact that test-optional admissions policies have had on schools.

Jack Buckley， a senior vice president at the American Institutes for Research， notes that while diversity improved at schools that have gone test-optional， that also happened “at the same rate among those that didnt.”

In other words， says Buckley， test-optional schools are not more effective in enrolling minorities than schools that still require test scores.

Syverson says thats not what the evidence in his study is showing. “We certainly are not arguing that everyone should abolish test scores，” he says. “Test scores do have some value.”

Syverson insists that his study shows that tests can be an obstacle not just for students who dont test well， but for students from under-served， under-represented populations.

More importantly， he adds， you can admit pretty good students by looking at something other than test scores.

Thats been the experience at George Washington University. “Our experience is actually that （students） high school performance predicts college performance extremely well，” says Forrest Maltzman， the universitys provost and chief academic officer.

Maltzman says that whatever helped students be successful in high school tends to work for them in college： “Standardized tests dont get at that.”

Two years worth of data show that students who got into GW with high test scores performed no better as freshman and sophomores than those who got in without submitting their test scores， he says.

“The added value of test scores in predicting performance today is really very very minimal，” Maltzman argues. “The best thing these tests match up with is actually family income.”

And that， says Syverson， is consistent with his teams findings. Still， he cautions that test optional policies are no panacea. Theyre just another way to make college more accessible.

“Our study clearly supports the notion that if an institution wants to do a better job serving traditionally under-served populations， test optional （policies） can provide a very useful tool.”

目前有1000多所高校在錄取學(xué)生時(shí)不要求學(xué)術(shù)能力評(píng)估測(cè)試（SAT）或美國(guó)大學(xué)入學(xué)考試（ACT）成績(jī)，而且這樣的高校在逐年增多。一項(xiàng)新研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，這兩項(xiàng)考試成績(jī)對(duì)預(yù)測(cè)學(xué)生入學(xué)后表現(xiàn)的參考價(jià)值有限。這就帶出一個(gè)問題：這些考試真的必要嗎？

實(shí)行“非強(qiáng)制性考試入學(xué)”的高校中，來(lái)自低收入家庭、“學(xué)一代”的生源錄取率和畢業(yè)率更高，學(xué)生的家庭背景更多樣。這是研究人員在《定義機(jī)會(huì)：非強(qiáng)制性考試入學(xué)運(yùn)作方式》研究報(bào)告中得出的結(jié)論。

“我們的研究表明，這類學(xué)生的畢業(yè)率往往更高。”本項(xiàng)研究的作者之一、華盛頓大學(xué)博塞爾校區(qū)助理副校長(zhǎng)史蒂夫·賽弗森說(shuō)。

“一所大學(xué)若打算通過(guò)非強(qiáng)制性考試來(lái)招收學(xué)生，那么引發(fā)的第一反應(yīng)會(huì)是，就連往屆生也會(huì)擔(dān)憂這樣錄取到的學(xué)生要差一等?！辟惛ド硎荆@一研究應(yīng)該能打消本打算實(shí)行此政策的招生人員的顧慮。

賽弗森和他的研究團(tuán)隊(duì)調(diào)查了28所不再要求考試成績(jī)的公立和私立大學(xué)，對(duì)95.6萬(wàn)名學(xué)生做了追蹤調(diào)查。

就讀于喬治·華盛頓大學(xué)的大二學(xué)生伊恩·哈伊莫威茨就是其中之一，位于華府的這所大學(xué)就實(shí)行非強(qiáng)制性考試入學(xué)政策。

他說(shuō)，起初感覺自己像一條離了水的魚兒。

“有個(gè)事兒我敢肯定，我是很多同學(xué)見到的頭一個(gè)尼加拉瓜裔美國(guó)人，頭一個(gè)拉丁裔美國(guó)人，頭一個(gè)拉丁裔猶太人?！?/p>

他還說(shuō)，剛踏進(jìn)學(xué)校那會(huì)兒，四下一看，就自己?jiǎn)栕约海骸八麄兌际窃谒搅W(xué)校接受過(guò)最好教育的，我來(lái)這兒摻和什么？”

他從小在新墨西哥州長(zhǎng)大，兩地真是天差地別。

“記得我高一的時(shí)候沒有數(shù)學(xué)老師。這可能就是你從考試成績(jī)看出我數(shù)學(xué)基礎(chǔ)不好的緣由。但我相信自己是有潛力的?！?/p>

讀高中時(shí)，伊恩是優(yōu)等生，但他的SAT成績(jī)卻很低，他覺得沒有哪所一流大學(xué)會(huì)錄取自己。他說(shuō)，無(wú)須提交考試成績(jī)的政策，為他敲開了重點(diǎn)大學(xué)之門。

今年，喬治·華盛頓大學(xué)收到了來(lái)自美國(guó)各地2.65萬(wàn)份讀本科申請(qǐng)。近20%的學(xué)生沒有提交考試成績(jī)，校方表示，這有助于招收更多來(lái)自不同背景的學(xué)生。

盡管如此，一些研究人員對(duì)非強(qiáng)制性考試錄取政策帶給院校的影響仍抱有疑慮。

美國(guó)研究院高級(jí)副院長(zhǎng)杰克·巴克利指出，盡管實(shí)行非強(qiáng)制性考試入學(xué)政策提升了學(xué)校的生源多樣性，但“未實(shí)行該政策的學(xué)校生源多樣性也在同步提升。”

巴克利解釋說(shuō)，換言之，在錄取少數(shù)族裔方面，非強(qiáng)制性考試院校的表現(xiàn)并不比強(qiáng)制考試院校好多少。

賽弗森說(shuō)，他的研究并未得出這一結(jié)論?！拔覀儺?dāng)然不是說(shuō)每所學(xué)校都應(yīng)摒棄考試分?jǐn)?shù)，考試成績(jī)確實(shí)有一定的價(jià)值?！?/p>

賽弗森堅(jiān)稱，他的研究表明，考試不僅是考試失利學(xué)生的一道門檻，對(duì)學(xué)習(xí)條件落后的弱勢(shì)群體學(xué)生也是如此。

他補(bǔ)充道，更重要的是，考查除成績(jī)外的其他方面，也可以招到相當(dāng)優(yōu)秀的學(xué)生。

這就是喬治·華盛頓大學(xué)的經(jīng)驗(yàn)。該校教務(wù)長(zhǎng)兼首席學(xué)術(shù)官福里斯特·馬爾茨曼說(shuō)：“我們的經(jīng)驗(yàn)是，從學(xué)生高中的表現(xiàn)能很好地預(yù)測(cè)其大學(xué)表現(xiàn)?！?/p>

馬爾茨曼指出，讓學(xué)生在高中階段表現(xiàn)優(yōu)異的品質(zhì)，往往在大學(xué)期間也會(huì)起作用，“標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化考試可檢測(cè)不出這種品質(zhì)”。

他還說(shuō)，兩年的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，高分進(jìn)入喬治·華盛頓大學(xué)的學(xué)生在大一和大二時(shí)的表現(xiàn)并不比未提交考試成績(jī)的學(xué)生好。

“考試成績(jī)對(duì)學(xué)術(shù)評(píng)估的附加值微乎其微，”馬爾茨曼認(rèn)為，“和這些考試成績(jī)最匹配的倒是家庭收入。”

賽弗森說(shuō)，這一點(diǎn)與他團(tuán)隊(duì)的發(fā)現(xiàn)是一致的。不過(guò)，他提醒道，測(cè)試可選政策并不是靈丹妙藥，只不過(guò)是讓大學(xué)不再遙不可及的另一種途徑。

“我們的研究明確支持這樣的看法：一所大學(xué)若是真的為那些從來(lái)就沒有獲得充分教育的人群著想，那么非強(qiáng)制性考試入學(xué)（政策）會(huì)是非常奏效的一招?！?/p>

（譯者為“《英語(yǔ)世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎(jiǎng)?wù)撸?/p>