Mark this one as ridiculous. While most schools in America have let go of standardised testing during the pandemic, Illinois is still insisting that its public school students take the SAT in 2024. Yep, you heard that right. The Illinois State Board of Education says all 11th graders in public schools there, including those in non-public schools, must sit for the SAT in April. To add to the confusion, even though The College Board dropped the essay requirement, Illinois hasn’t updated its official website to reflect this change. And brace yourselves, because soon the Digital SAT will be the new normal for public school students in Illinois.
Illinois Should Not Be Requiring the SAT
Illinois Requiring Unnecessary Testing
What’s good enough for America’s top schools should be good enough for Illinois lawmakers too. Most of the best universities in the country, except for MIT and Georgetown, don’t need SAT or ACT scores for admissions in 2023-2024. So why should Illinois make its public school students take another test they don’t need?
Do these students really have to take more tests? Is it necessary for Illinois lawmakers to make applying to college even more stressful? What’s the point of making these students take this test? If students want to take the SAT, they can do it on their own.
Illinois Picking Sides Between SAT and ACT
It’s not a good idea for Illinois lawmakers to make students take only the SAT and not the ACT. The SAT is made by the College Board, and the ACT is made by a different company called ACT, Inc. These companies compete for students to take their tests. Some students prefer the SAT, while others do better on the ACT.
So why should Illinois force students to take one test and not the other? We think Illinois shouldn’t make students take either test. Why favour one company over another? It seems like trying to hurt ACT, Inc.’s business. That’s how it looks to us! Feel free to send us flowers and a thank you message, ACT, Inc!
Illinois Reported SAT Scores on High School Transcripts Until 2017
Illinois needs to update its methods. Ivy Coach has previously criticised Illinois for its old-fashioned SAT rule and reporting. Back in 2017, two politicians from the northern suburbs of Illinois introduced Senate Bill 757 to change the rule that made it mandatory for state SAT scores to be included on student transcripts. The bill passed with a vote of 54-0. However, until as recently as 2017, Illinois high schools were still including SAT scores on transcripts, which they weren’t supposed to do according to the law. They shouldn’t have been reporting scores from private organisations like The College Board.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (also known as the Buckley Amendment) was put into effect during the 1970s, giving parents significant control over their children’s school records. However, it wasn’t until the 1990s that high schools across the country started to take FERPA seriously.
Before the 1990s, it was typical for high school administrators to include scores from standardised tests like the SATs, ACTs, and AP exams on students’ academic records. Even a decade after FERPA become law, a survey of American high school counsellors found that many were still adding these scores to transcripts. Parents didn’t realise that this seemingly small action violated their children’s rights, so they didn’t ask for the scores to be removed.
Just a heads up, back then, most schools didn’t charge students to send their test scores from The College Board or ACT, Inc. along with their applications (but things have changed now at most top schools). So, it’s not like universities weren’t already getting these test scores.
To sum it up, in 2017, Illinois high schools had to start following FERPA, a long-standing law. Think of it like doctors sharing private info with their patients’ friends and family, which goes against HIPAA, a law from 1996. Then, 20 years later, the state passes a law telling them to stop or face consequences! Pretty silly, right?
Ivy Coach Calls for Illinois and 16 Other States to End Their SAT or ACT Testing Mandates
Anachronism – a fancy word meaning something outdated. The requirement for students in Illinois to take the SAT for college admissions, still in place in 2024, is outdated. This requirement remains even though most other places in the US have made the tests optional for admissions. Illinois isn’t the only state with this rule. According to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal, many students in places like Indiana still have to take the SAT or ACT. The US Department of Education says 17 states use either the SAT or ACT for high-school testing requirements under federal law.
It’s all pretty ridiculous! From our perspective on college admissions, Ivy Coach says, “The rulemaking public school students in Illinois and 16 other states take the SAT must be scrapped.”
