Instapundit links to a news item in Campus Reform which reports as follows:
The California State University system will no longer be considering standardized SAT and ACT test scores as part of its admissions process, citing “equity and fairness” as part of its deliberations.
California State University's Director of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs Toni Molle told Campus Reform that the school "draws its students from the top third of California’s high school graduates" and that grade point averages (GPA) will be the "primary consideration for admission."
This is important because:
Among its 23 campuses, CSU has approximately 56,000 faculty members and 477,000 students. Those numbers make California State University "the largest system of four-year higher education in the country," according to the system's website.
Long-time COTTonLINE readers know the DrsC were members of that gigantic faculty throughout most of our careers, we were also baccalaureate graduates of the system. I remind you of these two data points to establish my expertise for the following insights.
What is actually happening here is that the supply of in-state young adults who score well on the SAT and ACT has declined and, rather than lower their cutoff scores to keep the classroom seats filled, they've decided to do away with the testing requirement. They can stop reporting the average scores of entering classes since the data is no longer required or considered relevant to admissions and thus avoid the embarrassment of declining scores.
However undereducated high school graduates may be, every high school graduating class has a "top third." CSU intends to keep their classroom seats filled, regardless of the qualifications of those so seated. Claiming equity and fairness motives always looks better than admitting expediency, amiright?
