standardized test requirements should be dropped for college admission
Renée A. Middleton
I applaud Ohio University — together with more than half of four-year colleges nationwide — in adopting a test-optional pathway for admission for first-year applicants.
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All institutions of higher education should lead the efforts to reverse structural roadblocks to potential students and provide access to the promise of an enriched life that education can provide.
For too long, standardized testing has been overused and misused in ways that either knowingly or inadvertently set up structures akin to institutional and structural inequities. Structural inequities consist of laws, rules or official policies in a society that result in and support a continued unfair advantage to some people — deep patterns of socioeconomic inequalities and disadvantage due to socioeconomic class or racism.
Though institutions of higher education should have standards for admission, they have an obligation to eliminate barriers for students and expand access to higher education. Newly proposed standards — such as those by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation — will succeed in this mission without negatively impacting academic quality or student success outcomes.
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As early as 2013, Ohio University’s Patton College of Education began talking about the barriers standardized testing created for many P-12 students. Students from rural schools and communities, as well as many families residing in urban and rural settings, might not have the resources and support that would enable them to prepare for and succeed at standardized testing. And during the pandemic, these populations had little access to actual standardized testing opportunities.
An overreliance on standardized testing has the effect of decreasing the diversity of individuals who apply and are admitted into teacher education. In a December 2020 communication to the Biden Administration, Peggy Brookins, President and CEO of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), acknowledges that “the teaching profession does not adequately reflect the rich diversity and identifies of our nation’s student population.
The representation gap is sizable — 50% of students are students of color, yet 20% of teachers are teachers of color. In Ohio, only 5% of our teachers are teachers of color and less than 1% percent are African American males.
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Colleges of education and the state of Ohio can play an important role in modernizing the teaching profession and the quality of students admitted by promoting national board certification to create a more diverse, accomplished teaching workforce. Research suggests that the National Board Certification process itself supports teacher retention through the continual learning, recognition and community that this advanced certification provides.
With this in mind, teachers teaching in the most challenging parts of our nation in urban and rural communities across America can serve as mentors that inspire and support those around them — peers, aspiring teachers, parents, P-12 learners and policy leaders.
It is imperative to use multiple measures to determine someone’s ability to be successful in our educator preparation program and/or determine what types of support they will need once they arrive on campus. We need to use assessments to determine how to help, not hinder.
The Patton College of Education and other Ohio public and private institutions are committed to instituting an equity-oriented approach to student admissions and successful matriculation into the education field.
While student applicants in Ohio University’s College of Education might be required to take standardized tests, their scores will be evaluated in tandem with requirements such as GPA, rigor of pre-college coursework, personal statements and letters of recommendation. For all students, including those who possess lower standardized test scores but maintain competitive GPAs, Ohio University is committed to providing academic supports for their success.
By changing former standardized testing requirements, higher education has the opportunity to provide access to individuals who would have otherwise been overlooked due to a score on a test, thus increasing the number of historically and currently underrepresented students in rural and urban communities whose presence is crucial to building diverse and productive communities.
Renée A. Middleton is dean of the Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education at Ohio University.
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