Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal | April 12, 2021 | wbjournal.com I n 2005, the College of the Holy Cross became one of the first colleges in the country to make a bold change in its admissions process. e Worcester school no longer required applicants to submit what had long been a central component of preparing for college: standardized tests such as the SAT. A decade and a half later, Holy Cross is joined by just about every one of its Central Massachusetts peers, and higher education admissions have been transformed. Colleges generally no longer see the SAT or ACT as necessary for gauging whether a student will be successful at their schools. In fact, many find such WPI this spring took the higher education trend of foregoing standardized testing to the next level, as colleges seek to diversify their student bodies Test blind tests to only reinforce built-in advantages some students – largely wealthy ones – enjoy before they ever get to college. "Standardized testing is now the third rail of college admissions," said Scott Latham, a business professor at UMass Lowell who studies higher education. "ere is a huge correlation between household income and test scores." In mid-March, Worcester Polytechnic Institute took the trend a step further, saying it would no longer consider standardized test scores at all in its admissions process. WPI is one of the first colleges to go so-called test-blind, a decision it says is in line with its mission and consistent with it's sometimes unique way of doing business, with an emphasis on project-based learning, a varied academic calendar, and a grading system not including D's or F's. "It makes sense that our admissions standards would match with what we're trying to do," said Andrew Palumbo, WPI's dean of admissions and financial aid. Evolving views Colleges didn't always shun standardized tests. ey were long a regular part of the college prep process for high school students, and a rite of passage for those looking to make it into a school of their choice. But then research began finding problems. ose tests not only didn't indicate how likely a student was to find success in college, but they also led to inequality concerns at a time when colleges are increasingly determined to diversify their student bodies and give more opportunities to those who might not have had them in the past, such as first- generation college students or those from disadvantaged backgrounds. "Once we went forward, it was sort of liberating," said Ann McDermott, the admissions director at Holy Cross. At the time, Holy Cross was one of the first five colleges nationally in modern years to make standardized test scores an optional part of the admissions process, according to the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, an Arlington group advocating for fairness in admissions. McDermott and her team at the time thought Holy Cross students were typically better academically than their test scores would show – Type A people who were overachievers, she said. It was still enough of a leap for McDermott to remember thinking to herself, "What did we just do?" Lots of colleges have followed. WPI went test-optional in 2007, at the time the first to do so among its STEM- school peers, a technology-focused group that could be more wedded to data than most. "ey've long been used as a lazy sorting system for college admissions officers," Palumbo said of test scores. In March, WPI announced it wouldn't even make such scores optional for applying students. Schools might say supplying a score can only help, and not hurt, a student, but that can't be so, Palumbo said. A system that benefited anyone unfairly didn't match with WPI's goals of a more diverse student body. BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor Worcester Polytechnic Institute first went test-optional in 2007 as part of a student diversity effort. Now it won't consider standardized tests at all in its admissions process. Andrew Palumbo, WPI dean of admissions and financial aid PHOTOS/GRANT WELKER

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