“Equity is at the center of everything we do.” In Fairfax County, and all of our school districts in northern Virginia, this statement or something like it is repeated in emails, newsletters, speeches, professional development events, and official policies. Equity is supposedly the main driver for all of our decisions we make in public schools. I think that’s great. But if that’s the case, why then will high schools in Fairfax County, Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, and other school districts across Virginia shut down for a day to administer tests that notoriously promote inequity?
I’m talking about the PSAT and SAT. High schools across our region will shut down on October 11 so students can take those tests. All learning will stop so, for at least on that day, inequity can be at the center of everything we do.
Keep in mind, the SAT has been determined to promote inequity in education. It favors students from wealthy backgrounds who have been tutored in test-taking skills that will allow them to do well on these types of tests. That’s not me saying that. Over 80 percent of colleges in the United States no longer require the SAT because of this (see fairtest.org/test-optional-list/). That includes the top colleges across America – the Ivies, all of Virginia’s public colleges, and many more.
The PSAT, which is literally a “prep” test for the SAT, is used to decide if a student qualifies for a National Merit Scholarship. While this is a great, keep in mind that less than one percent of students who take the PSAT get a high enough score to qualify them for that scholarship (and less than half of those that qualify actually get a scholarship of $2,500).
In Fairfax County Public Schools, the largest school district in Virginia and the metropolitan DC area, 264 students last year were named National Merit Scholarship “Semifinalists” (meaning they qualified). Of those 264, not surprisingly 165 of them were from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. That means the other 24 traditional high schools shut down instruction for an entire day for 99 students (and again, not all of those 99 students are actually getting a scholarship). What about the other 40,000 high school students in Fairfax? They lose a day of learning.
I think the National Merit Scholarship is a great recognition. This caused a lot of controversy last year as some high schools in Fairfax County were not reporting who received this honor. We should offer students who have the potential to receive that scholarship the opportunity to take the PSAT. But we know at each high school, particularly those like mine with large low-income and non-English native speaking populations, that is only a handful of students. Why are we shutting down all our high schools just for a small group of students? Can’t those students take the exam separately and everyone else can continue learning?
For those who want to take the SAT, because they did pay for tutoring, or want to go to one of the small number of colleges that still require the SAT, such as military academies and public colleges in Florida (think about that for minute), provide them the option to do that. We can find space in school to administer the exam, or just offer it on a Saturday, which is when the SAT is usually administered. But don’t shut down the entire school for a day for the benefit of a very small number of students.
The reason we do keep shutting down school for these exams is inertia from the past. Our school district leaders, as well as parents, are from my generation, where the SAT was a big deal in college admissions. Back then, it was required and taken seriously. In order to promote equity, over a decade ago, school districts did the right thing to offer the SAT and PSAT free to all students. But that was the past. The current state of college admissions has led to over 80 percent of colleges no longer requiring the SAT because of the exam’s inequities. We need to realize that our students do NOT need the SAT to go to UVA, William and Mary, Virginia Tech, JMU, George Mason, and many other top colleges, and thus, we should update our school policies to reflect that.
Another reason may be the corporate power of the College Board, the company that owns the PSAT and SAT. If school districts keep administering these tests, the illusion that these tests actually matter continues, and most of all, they keep making money (keep in mind, having schools administer the test on a school day provides the College Board free labor as teachers and administrators are at school; that’s not the case on a Saturday). I am sure if this is published, there will be a response from the College Board claiming these tests are good for students. Yeah, and at one point according to federal school lunch programs, ketchup was a vegetable.
Some may say, what’s the big deal? It’s just one day. The big deal is when you’re teaching students, particularly from at-risk backgrounds, every day, every minute of instruction matters. Disruptions like this take away from the very important routine of learning. Teenagers need routine. This day off comes just over a month from when school started, when teachers have worked hard to set up a routine of learning with students. Suddenly that routine is thrown off and it can have a major impact. Ask any teacher and they’ll say the whole week of school is thrown off due to this disruption, and right at a critical time in the beginning of the school year. When we see reading and math scores going down, as well as rising attendance problems, maximizing instruction time so students get into the routine of learning should be a priority, not tests that promote inequity.
It is my hope that this year will be last year we shut down schools for the PSAT and SAT. We can and should find alternative ways to provide the opportunity to those students who want to take these tests. But for the vast majority of students, a normal day of school where they continue the routine of learning is what is best and would truly mean we are putting equity at the center of everything we do.
-Eric Wolf Welch
W. Broad Street Reopened at Lee Street After Accident Cleared
Editor,
It was a crash. The crash was “cleared and W. Broad St./Rt. 7 is open in both directions.” The term “accident” to describe a motor vehicle crash has long been promoted and popularized by the automobile industry to help minimize, in the eyes of the public, the dangers of automobiles traveling at high speeds though our cities. There were two cars and a small truck involved in that motor vehicle collision at the intersection of Broad and Lee Streets on October 2.
I didn’t see the collision, but I saw the aftermath. The truck was straddling the sidewalk, the two damaged cars were on Broad St. on opposite sides of the intersection, and one street light pole was lying horizontally over nearly a block of the Broad St. sidewalk. I hope Falls Church City and the Falls Church News Press will use the term “crash” or “collision” to more accurately describe the violent meeting of motor vehicles with each other or with public infrastructure. I sincerely hope no one was severely injured.
I also hope the city submits an insurance claim to the offending drivers’ insurance companies, because I am pretty sure the street lamp wasn’t violating any traffic laws.
-Joyce Migdall, Falls Church