Other Views on the Value of the SAT
Since you asked for our feedback about your article on SAT tests ["What the SAT Tests Are Really Scoring," Fairfax Extra, Sept. 8], I will give you my two cents as a parent of a Madison High School senior.</br></br>First of all, unlike you, I am a fan of the SAT. I think it's critical to efficiency in college admissions, given that some school districts practice rampant grade inflation and others (including Fairfax County) do not. Without the objectivity of having SAT grades, colleges would be missing a critical piece of information in their admissions processes. As I am sure you know, studies have indeed found the SAT to be a good and useful predictor of how well kids do in college.</br></br>On the other hand, I agree with you that the average SAT grade of a school's students doesn't tell one much about whether that school is a good place to learn. After all, even with the changes, it's still pretty much an aptitude test. Thus, it's going to correlate more with IQ than with the quality of teachers. Moreover, if one's goal is to get into the most selective college possible, I think there's probably a decent argument to be made that one may be better off in one of the less elite high schools, taking as many tough courses as possible and perhaps standing out more from the pack.</br></br>Your Sept. 8 column was a good piece, but it was incomplete because it did not include several relevant factors affecting SAT scores. While poverty does correlate with SAT achievement, a more powerful correlation appears to be culture.</br></br>Asians in general and the immigrants from some Latin countries have a deep cultural reverence for education that transcends economic status. On the other hand, domestic underclass culture, particularly that of many African Americans, denigrates promising black students as "acting white," as if scholarship was a racial characteristic.