In October 2019, CAP joined a civil rights action designed to encourage the University of California to end its use of racially biased exams in its admissions policies. We had no idea that a global pandemic would conspire with existing educational inequities to further disadvantage the access underrepresented student groups have to the tests and resources designed solely to increase performance on these tests.
The research and CAP’s belief has been clear all along: the only thing the SAT and ACT consistently measure is parental income; conversely, they do not provide any insight into the likelihood a student will persist to college graduation. The pandemic merely exacerbated these existing barriers to postsecondary education. Today, those barriers have been permanently removed at our nation’s most prestigious university system.
We look forward to the opportunity to redirect energy and resources to programs supporting measures that do move the needle toward college success. We are excited to roll up our sleeves with our organizational partners, students, and educational leaders to institute real change in college admissions beyond the boundaries of the great state of California.
