College Board pulls plug on summer SAT for gifted students

The news media, concerned parents, and scholars have won an important symbolic victory today for our nation’s young. The College Board backed off a summer test-prep camps for rich kids that would have been blatantly unfair, but the subtle unfairness of the test, advantaging high income youths, continues. This incident has shone a much needed light on one of higher education’s darkest secrets. Standardized tests have long allowed institutions to practice social discrimination in the name of academic selectivity. It’s time more colleges and universities take a stand against the SAT in the name of a level playing field based on academic merit, not household income.

By Joseph A. Soares, Professor of Sociology, Wake Forest University