Testing and Admission Policies Create Barriers in Education
A right to equal opportunity, that’s what’s promised to us, however to Black and Brown students that’s an empty promise with many barriers. With a history embedded in segregationist practices, do Black and Brown students really have a fair chance at education? “It’s unfair Jorge, why do I have to take the SAT to go to college? If I want to go and have the ability, why isn’t that good enough?” This is what my former student vented to me about as he reflected on his future plans. It got me thinking about the struggles many students face when navigating their education. Even though education is a right, for many students the obstacles that stand in their way prevent them from reaching their full potential.
Our Black and Brown students are feeling the burden of educational policies rooted in a racist history that creates barriers. The pandemic has magnified the inequities in our country and the field of education is critical in closing some of those opportunity gaps. Educators and students are calling for reform around standardized testing practices and admissions methods that blatantly discriminate against one’s racial and social-economic status.
Educators and students no longer want to be complicit and want a revamp in policies that are hindering students’ potential. Even during a pandemic, the Biden Administration announced that states would be giving standardized tests, and educators around the country are questioning America’s obsession with standardized tests.
To our students, the promise of equal opportunity, especially in education, is hampered by barriers and prejudices that neglect their traumas. In a global crisis students are expected to take standardized tests even under the circumstances we are living in. However, Black and Brown children have suffered from intergenerational traumas that are neglected constantly in educational policies. These practices around testing and admissions are exploitative and prevent students from determining their own levels of success in schools. Like my former student said, “If I want to go and have the ability, why isn’t that good enough?”, well because a test said so?
Understanding our students’ experiences is critical in creating an equitable education system. Educators from around the country disagree with testing and organizations like Teachers for Good Trouble are advocating for canceling exams. The truth about these aptitude tests like the SATs and state exams is their direct correlation to America’s racist history. Designed by psychologist Carl Brigham for the US Army, Brigham was influential in developing arbitrary racist and xenophobic forms of assessment to enforce false superior dominance. Today testing is a multibillion-dollar industry and dictates the way federal funding is administered to states for schooling. Putting big business in front of the much-needed healing process in education to create change.
The federal government plays a huge role in funding schools which puts immense pressure on educators to have students achieve on state exams. For many of our students, this meritocracy system of testing has done nothing to improve achievement and is a factor contributing to the opportunity gap. The Washington Post stated, “They had long pointed to extensive research showing standardized test scores are most strongly correlated to a student’s life circumstances. Real reform, they said, means addressing students’ social and emotional needs and the conditions in which they live, and making improvements in school buildings.” We must acknowledge the economic inequalities and racial traumas causing opportunity gaps and begin implementing policies that promote healing for all students.
Another barrier for our students and their families is the financial strain of higher learning, and with “underperforming” test scores universities may see a sizable decline in admissions. Admission boards are feeling compelled to explore alternative methods for enrollment. In May of 2020, the University of California, in a historic vote, abandoned the SAT and ACT exams prompting an upsurge of enrollment among students of color. Universities should continue to push for alternative forms of measuring college readiness, for example, project-based assessments where students can demonstrate academic potential. NEA President Becky Pringle tweeted, “Standardized tests have never been valid or reliable measures of what students know and are able to do, and they are especially unreliable now.” Our students deserve a fair opportunity to excel in education.
With the demands of test cancelations, high school admission processes are also being called to reform practices. Unfortunately for students, standardized testing is a barrier paralleled to admission policies that are already facing criticism in connection to discriminatory practices. In New York City a child like my former student would have to go through an admission process that is linked to factors dictated by zip code, grades, numbers of suspensions, and arrests.
In a society where segregation and social-economic status determine the economic resources poured in a community, the admission process removes the ability to see a students’ true capabilities. Our students should no longer be hindered by a system they did not create but continue to ensnare them. At the same time, our students in New York City continue to be proponents of change by voicing their concerns. Student-led organizations like Teens Take Charge and IntegrateNYC are calling for direct shifts in educational policies. An issue they are tackling is the NYC high school admissions process, expressing it excludes marginalized students, creating a disproportionate segregated school system. Students argue that admissions screening discriminates against Black students and have filed a federal complaint as a direct violation of the Civil Rights Act.
Among the root causes creating this disproportionate school system are segregationist practices which allowed mortgage companies with real estate agencies to separate white suburbia from Black inner cities, more commonly known as redlining. Many of those practices from the 1940s-1960s still trickle down today which have devastating ramifications on access to resources for inner-city schools, contributing to the racial wealth gap. Our students inherited a prejudiced system however the status quo can be dismantled to create an equitable future. The barriers can be toppled.
Passionate educators and students will continue to be resilient when dealing with unfair policies preventing education. Barriers are meant to be broken and change is a natural process. It is only right that opportunities in education are extended to our students who are more than willing to achieve.