Editing Education in the United States (section)

=== Standardized testing ===

Requiring students to take [[standardized test]]s (everyone takes the same test under reasonably equal circumstances, and gets scored the same way) for college admissions is a controversial topic. These tests can create unequal opportunities for students based on their economic status, race, and ability status.  For example, students with [[dyslexia]] may not, through no fault of their own, read the test material as quickly or easily as students without dyslexia. Similarly, impoverished students who are hungry when they take the test due to [[Food insecurity in the United States|food insecurity]], or who did not sleep well due to noisy, overcrowded housing, often do not score as well as students who are healthy, well-nourished, and well-rested. Students in under-funded, low-income schools often have the disadvantage of [[Class size|larger class sizes]] taught by teachers with less experience. It is therefore common for students of color, those with disabilities, and those from low-income communities to have lower scores on academic tests.  While these lower scores may accurately reflect the individual student's performance, the lower performance is most likely due to "generations of exclusionary housing, education, and economic policy", rather than anything an individual student could remedy on their own.<ref name="Olson2">{{Cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Ember |last2=Reeves |first2=Richard V. |date=1 December 2020 |title=SAT math scores mirror and maintain racial inequity |url=https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/12/01/sat-math-scores-mirror-and-maintain-racial-inequity/ |website=Brookings Institution}}</ref> These achievement gaps aren't a new concept. In 1991, the gap between the average scores of white students and those of black students was 0.91 standard deviations, while in 2020, the gap had decreased to 0.79 standard deviations.<ref name="Olson2" />

==== Cost of taking tests ====
Taking university admissions tests can be costly for students, both in terms of optional [[test preparation]] programs and in the cost of registering for and attending test. The [[ACT (test)|ACT]] and [[SAT]] can cost $55–$70 and $52–$68 respectively.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Why we should do away with standardized testing|url=https://www.dailycardinal.com/article/2020/09/why-we-should-do-away-with-standardized-testing|access-date=2021-09-27|website=The Daily Cardinal|language=en}}</ref> Many wealthier students voluntarily take the tests multiple time to see the best score<ref>{{Cite web|title=Retaking the Test|url=https://www.manhattanreview.com/sat-retaking/|access-date=2021-10-04|website=www.manhattanreview.com}}</ref> they can get, and will submit "super-scores", or a score consisting of their best scores from each section. Students from low-income families cannot afford to take the test multiple times.

Students in low-income communities oftentimes do not have the same resources for test prep that their peers from more affluent backgrounds do. This discrepancy in resources available causes there to be a significant difference in the scores of students from different racial backgrounds. One study found that 59% of white students and 80% of Asian test takers are deemed "college ready"<ref>{{Cite report |last=Geiser|first=Saul |date=October 2015 |title=The Growing Correlation Between Race and SAT Scores |url=https://cshe.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/publications/rops.cshe_.10.15.geiser.racesat.10.26.2015.pdf |series=Research & Occasional Paper Series: CSHE.10.15 |publisher=Center for Studies in Higher Education, University of California, Berkeley}}</ref> by the SAT standards in comparison to the under 25% of Black students and under 33% of Hispanic/Latino students who are deemed "college ready". While the [[College Board]] reports that socioeconomic factors do not directly impact a student's performance, it can indirectly impact it through the course of access to prep courses and better schooling – experiences outside the test itself that can heavily affect test scores.