C for College Boards

Each year, thousands of U.S. high school students lunge for that brass ring of academic success: high scores on the College Entrance Examination Board's aptitude and achievement tests. Those who average more than 650 (maximum: 800) go to the head of the admissions line at 900 select colleges, ranging from Harvard to Harvey Mudd.* But do the largely multiple-choice tests

A. Identify the full potential of poor and minority-group students?

B. Spot creativity, motivation and eventual job success?

C. Favor affluent, narrowly academic male students at elite high schools?

According to more and more experts, the correct answer is C. As a result, the College Board, an association of schools and colleges formed to supervise the tests, appointed a 21-member commission in 1967 to conduct the first wholesale examination of the exams in 30 years. Last week the commission, chaired by Harvard Education Professor David V. Tiedeman, confirmed many of the critics' doubts.

Masked Skills. The tests mainly predict if a student can achieve "good grades in the standard curriculums as they are usually taught." Test pressures distort education at every level. While some schools overemphasize test taking, colleges occasionally reject low scorers with other talents that would benefit society as well as colleges themselves. Example: 85% of black high school seniors score below the current national average (375) on the verbal-aptitude test. Those scores reflect poor schooling, not the blacks' real potential, says the commission. For all races, the tests tend to mask special skills and interests.

Chiding the College Board for sluggishness, the commission says that it should end its preoccupation with helping admissions directors and start helping students as well. One method: developing tests to find more precisely what deficiencies students have, and show colleges what kinds of instruction would produce improvement. Since 75% of high school graduates will probably seek admission by 1980, says the commission, the Board should also set up a nationwide, computerized service to match high school students with suitable colleges and even jobs.

* An equal number of students now take the slightly different tests given by the eleven-year-old American College Testing Program.

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