One test to rule them all

One test to rule them all

Educational Realist elaborates on some of the concerns I have had with Chris Hayes’ ballyhooed piece on the failure of elites:

Hayes is correct about one thing, though: the elites are locking out the hoi polloi from highest-level institutions. But it takes a real ignorance to pretend that the rich are doing this because of over-reliance on test scores or test prep, as opposed to buying their way in, using their powerful networks to only hire from the “right” schools, and the fuzzy math of the “holistic” evaluation process. Give me test scores any day.

ER also observes that in fact minorities, and in particular Asians, make use of test prep:

Use of Test-Prep Courses and Gains, by Race and Ethnicity

Group
% Taking Test-Prep Course
Post-Course Gain in Points on SAT

East Asian American
30%
68.8

Other Asian
15%
23.8

White
10%
12.3

Black
16%
14.9

Hispanic
11%
24.6

When I was in kindergarten I scored in the bottom 5 percent on an IQ test in the first week. At the end of the year I scored in the top 5 percent. I didn’t know English very well at the beginning of the year, and full immersion helped me catch up by year’s end (my English converged to nearly 100% fluency by 1st grade). Additionally, I might add that …

Razib Khan