Online College Board tests are planned if lockdowns extend to fall. How would they work?
For high school students across the world, the SAT and ACT are essential steps in getting admitted to the college of their choice. But with schools and testing sites closed and social distancing in place for the foreseeable future in most states, the testing companies are scrambling to make alternative arrangements for administering the exams.
The College Board, which runs the SATs, has announced that if schools still aren’t open in the fall, students would be able to take the SAT from home. Priscilla Rodriguez, the vice president for college readiness assessments at the College Board, told Yahoo News that “we’ll be communicating with the public as soon as we know. We hope it’s unlikely.”
Rodriguez said the decision would likely be made by July.
But with the college admissions scandal still on the minds of parents and students, many are concerned cheating could be an issue. “Test security has been a big question and one of the things we’ve been working the hardest on as we’ve been developing this set of options,” said Rodriguez. “There is a kind of technology called remote proctoring that is used by many test organizations. It’s used by colleges often.”
Rodriguez explained that remote proctoring uses the camera and microphone on students’ computers to observe them during the test and notifies the proctor if there are any security concerns.
Advanced placement tests will be a guinea pig for what the virtual SATs could look like in the fall. AP tests are being administered digitally in May for millions of students because of the pandemic. “We’ve learned so much and developed so much to be able to deliver that,” said Rodriguez. “We’ll be able to leverage all of those learnings for the SAT.”
There are also concerns that a digital exam would disadvantage students from low-income families who may not have access to broadband at home, or even a computer. “I’ll say up front,” said Rodriguez, “that digital access is a real concern.” To combat this, the College Board says it has made a “significant investment” in devices like Chromebooks and personal hotspot routers for students who have to take the AP exams virtually but may not have access to these.
Beyond technology, she said, the board is also looking into “quiet and safe testing spaces, should they not have these in their homes.” Rodriguez said the same approach will be taken for the SAT if it does go digital.
“We, of course, for many reasons hope that things return to normal well before August and September,” she said. But with coronavirus numbers still growing daily, the need for alternatives to in-person testing is very much on the College Board’s mind.
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