Morgan Hill Life, 2/13/2019, “Community Voices by Shannon Kelly: Documentary shows what college entrance exams really measure,” by Shannon Kelly.
Each year more than three million high school students take the SAT or ACT, the entrance exams required by most four-year colleges in the United States.
For decades, however, there have been questions about exactly what these tests measure, what role they play in the admissions process and how predictive they are of academic success. These anxiety-provoking exams, and the multibillion-dollar test-prep industry that has grown up around them, have also become lightning rods in the ongoing national debate over equity in educational opportunity.
The documentary “The Test & the Art of Thinking” examines this controversy through interviews with students, parents, counselors, test-prep professionals and academics, to provide a look at this uniquely American rite of passage and how it reflects deeper issues in our educational system — and our society as a whole.
In the film, Chris Ajemain, founder of CATES Tutoring, likens the test to a work of art: “The SAT is not a test of what you know,” he said. “It’s a test of how you think.” Read more