美国高校非强制性考试入学政策及评价

The Test Optional Admissions Policy of U.S. Colleges &Universities and Reviews

二战以来的美国本科院校招生,通常实施以招生考试成绩为主的综合评价录取政策。20世纪90年代,270多所美国高校招生实施了新的综合评价政策——非强制性考试入学政策,学生的招生考试成绩成为高校招生录取的非必要条件。2008年以后,该政策的实施进入迅猛发展阶段,实施该政策的高校达一千余所。其迅猛发展的主要原因在于:高校致力于降低招生考试的负效;部分州取消《平权法案》加速了高校改善招生公平;满足高校招收个性学生的竞争需要;适应高中课程变革的要求。美国高校实施非强制性考试入学政策,一直伴随着很大的争论,其核心是招生考试的科学性与公平性。这对于我们深入反思招生考试的功能以及如何更好地利用招生考试成绩录取学生提供了很好的案例与启示。

The Chinese government issued the new college admission policy in 2014,giving all the colleges&universities a mandate to enroll new candidates depending on the college admission test and high school achievement test and the portfolio assessment of students.What is different from China is that the American colleges&universities have utilized holistic review policy including standardized admissions test to enroll new candidates since the Second World War.Beginning at the end of 1980s,the American colleges&universities expanded to implement a new holistic review policy which is called Test Optional Admissions Policy.The basic meaning of the new policy is that admissions test is optional for high school students,that is to say,the American high school students may choose to submit the standardized test scores such as SAT or ACT to colleges&universities,and also,they are permitted not to submit the admissions test scores during their application for colleges and universities.The admissions office enroll the students mainly according to the GPA and the rigor of courses and some other criteria.The present information published by The National Center for Fair and Open Testing shows that more than 1000 four-year colleges&universities has conducted the Test Optional policy,and the number ratio that consists of mainly private non-profit schools accounts for 40%of the total 2579 American four-year colleges&universities in 2015-2016 semester.Why are more than 1000 four-year colleges&universities follow test optional admissions policy and no longer require high school students to submit SAT or ACT scores in the college application procedure?First,the colleges&universities are dedicated to help reduce the ill-effects of standardized admissions test on schooling education and social inequality of the underrepresented groups;secondly,the elimination of“Affirmative Action”in part of the states makes more and more colleges&universities implement this policy to improve the equitable level of access to higher education;thirdly,those colleges&universities face the competition to admit more candidates with personal traits;lastly,they conduct the policy in order to adapt to the curriculum reform of high schools in different states of USA.However,the policy implementation has been accompanied with much controversy on the effectiveness and equity of admissions test since its practice.Those who support the admissions test argue that the test can be viewed as the Common Yardsticks by the admissions officer who can gauge the candidates from different background.Moreover,they think there is little evidence that the schools really admit some students from the underrepresented with diverse socioeconomic background and races.Those who oppose the admissions test insist that the strict test scores may restrain the candidates with excellent high school GPA and extracurricular coursework performance and community leadership from entering the top tier colleges&universities.They offer an efficient research report by Hiss,Syverson,and Franks in 2018 which consists of samples of 28 colleges&universities totaling 955774 students;the grades and socioeconomic status analysis of which shows that the test optional policy has not only improved the diversification of students,but hasn’t harmed the academic quality.Official data about economy and education indicate that America is a developed capitalist country in the stage of universal higher education,namely the implementation of test optional policy for U.S.colleges&universities has their special circumstances.However,the policy may provide us a good case to reflect on the function of admissions test and rethink how we select the candidates by using diverse test scores more reasonably.The main implication for Chinese universities is as follows:1)universities should be entitled to more flexible autonomous power in selecting talents,especially in the usage of admissions test scores;2)We need to reconsider the function of admissions test with more rationality,and the good admissions test should be helpful for high school to implement the curriculum criterion which guarantees the development of students and provides a better base for the enrollment of colleges&universities;3)Equitable access to high education is a political issue.The Affirmative Action seeks to reduce the longstanding ingrained enrollment discrimination of race and minority,but the effects is limited despite their high education development from mass to universal stage,which in turn indicates that equitable enrollment is a political issue.