It's Official: California State University Has Permanently Abandoned Standardized Testing

What are you giving up for Lent? California State University is giving up academics — at least where standardized testing for admission is concerned.

The school’s Board of Trustees issued the decision Wednesday.

Due to the pandemic, CSU had temporarily axed ACT and SAT considerations. Now it’s been made permanent.

Why would a school terminate tests which determine how good a student is at school in order to decide whether they should be let into a school that doesn’t let everyone in? Well, maybe the school lets everyone in. But according to CSU acting Chancellor Steve Relyea, it’s about leveling the playing field. He made that clear to CBS News:

“This decision aligns with the California State University’s continued efforts to level the playing field and provide greater access to a high-quality college degree for students from all backgrounds.”

Down with stress:

“In essence, we are eliminating our reliance on the high-stress, high-stakes test that has shown negligible benefit and providing our applicants with greater opportunities to demonstrate their drive, talents and potential for college success.”

If someone has “drive, talents and potential for college success,” they’d presumably do well on tests. Then again, maybe doing well on tests is no longer necessary for college success:

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That may only be fair, since university newcomers won’t necessarily have been previously required to garner good grades:

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As for the SAT, the test itself has undergone adjustment. In May of 2019, RS Editor-At-Large Kira Davis explained:

Typically, we think about this idea in terms of the rich shutting out the poor, but a new strategy for judging SAT scores throws the old stereotype out the window. In this newest scheme to “even the playing field” the College Board (which oversees SAT testing) has decided they will add a new “adversity score” when grading their college entrance exams. The intention is to add points to the grades of students who come from areas that score higher on the “adversity” scale. It will take into account crime rates, poverty rates and property values.

In education, it’s a new day. Meritocracy is, well, old-school. As such, it’s not earning merit with cutting-edge experts.

Some of those, evidently, sit on the California State University Board of Trustees. The vote to sack the SAT and ACT was unanimous.

Standardized test scores can still be used for placement in subjects such as math, but that’s on the move, too: