Podcast on School Testing

This podcast was produced by high school students Zeke D. and Geraldine C. with student guest Morgan McKibben, as part of the 2022 Freedom and Citizenship Civic Leadership Project. View the rest of the group project on public school segregation here.


 

Facts and Sources from the Podcast:

  • For students scoring above 700, 43% are Asian and 45% are white, compared to 6% Hispanic or Latino and 1% Black (Brookings).
     
  • Stuyvesant High School is 72% Asian, 19% White, and only 1% Black, 3% Hispanic (NYSED) (in a school system that 16% Asian, 15% White, 25% Black, and 41% Hispanic) (USA News).
     
  • What is the SHSAT? Read more from NYC Schools.
     
  • Read about the racist history of the SAT and ACT from Teachers College, Teen Vogue.
     
  • Scholars find SATs are a wealth test (Forbes).
     
  • The College board admits that studying for the SAT for 20 hours is associated with an average score gain of 115 points. Out of nearly 250,000 test-takers studied, more than 16,000 gained 200 points or more between the PSAT (or practice SAT) and real SAT (Washington Post).
     
  • Students whose parents have higher degrees do better, on average, on the SAT (College Board).
     
  • As schools go “test optional” 53% of students from the wealthiest homes submit tests while 39% from the poorest households submit tests (Bloomberg).
     
  • White students are three times more likely than Black or African-American students and twice as likely as Hispanic or Latino students to have combined SAT test scores of 1400 to 1600 (Forbes).