The Standardized Testing Problem

Diversity Matters with Oscar Holmes IV

Season 3 Episode 1

Episode Title: The Standardized Testing Problem

Guest: Mr. Akil Bello

 

Diversity Matters with Oscar Holmes IV is a podcast that explores all things diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) related. In each episode, Oscar and his guests have lively discussions around DEI topics, explore the latest research on the topic, and discuss the implications so that listeners will be more knowledgeable about the topics and be able to apply the insights to their lives.

 

Show Summary: “Even if the score has improved, it's the same kid; it's the same person with almost the same knowledge.”

 

Test or exam preparation is what students go through to increase their performance on standardized tests, usually for college university admissions. While the fair test is an advocacy organization that advocates for more limited, more reasonable & transparent use of standardized assessments, from K10 through 16. The movement supports the push not to administer standardized tests during a pandemic, to help students get better results on their exams.

 

As we all know, the test measures performance under intense pressure, influenced by some sampling of the things learned from K 10. Sadly, the test isn't decoupling one's actual knowledge and abilities from the secondary elements, which are time pressure & societal pressure. And that negatively affects someone's performance during the test.

 

That's why Mr. Akil Bello, an educator, entrepreneur, and testing expert, deep dives into why he is a big critic of the test preparation industry while being a test consultant & a fair test advocate at the same time. In this episode, he talks to us about the most significant issues with standardized testing, specifically for college university admissions. And he shares what institutions can do in higher education to make admissions more equitable.

 

3 Exceptional Highlights:

 

• If you isolated any particular part of basketball, let's say free throw shooting, would you use free throw statistics as the way to choose your NBA franchise? That's what essentially everyone who puts significant weight on the test is doing.
• All highly speeded high pressure, high stakes, standardized tests have something in common & that is there is a signal-to-noise ratio, which is unclear at best. And I would argue there's more noise than signal for many constituencies.
• Varsity blues is a representative of where we've reached in higher education. And it's part of the problem. Every day, families are doing variations of Varsity blues on different scales.

Show Highlights:

 

How Mr. Akil Bello got into the test prep consulting industry

 

2:27 Mr. Akil Bello

 

• My entry into test prep was motivated by poverty & supported by nepotism. As a poor college kid, I needed money. I was studying architecture, but I wanted a part-time gig. So I went to my aunt and asked her if she could help me out. She pointed me to the Princeton Review and told me to use her name, and I got a job. That led to a total of 17 years working with them.

 

You are known for calling elite, highly selective schools like Harvard and Stanford “highly rejective.” Can you explain why using this language and new framing is important to you?

 

19:13 Mr. Akil Bello

 

• One of the biggest problems in education is conflating historical advantage and wealth with educational quality. Just like your casual use of the word elite right now, I never use the word elite because it yields the position of power and respect to these institutions.

 

 

You were an expert contributor on Netflix’s Operation Varsity Blues, a documentary highlighting the elite college admissions scam. Please help us understand why and how something like this can occur.

 

28:31 Mr. Akil Bello

 

• CAPITALISM and AMERICA. To me, the entire scam is interesting. Because you have families who have a disposable X, hundreds of 1000s of dollars, this was money available for bribes. This is disposable income that was somehow, rather than giving it to the child to invest or giving it to them in a trust fund, it was worth spending this money to get this particular university sticker on the back of your car.

 

Why should the general public care about not getting into their top-choice school or some highly rejective school they wanted to go to?

 

21:16 Mr. Akil Bello

 

• Oh, they shouldn't care. I think that the Stanfords of the world command far too much attention and brand recognition. I think that far too much attention these places receive is the country club effect. It's the exclusion that creates the aura of "Oh, we want to join." And I think that that's the problem. And I would never join a country club.

 

What should we do in higher education to make admissions more equitable? 

 

35:07 Mr. Akil Bello

 

• Interrogate your policies for historical bias.

 

• Are the policies and the requirements of my admissions process those that advantage students with wealth and access?

 

• Is it a necessary component of the process that helps select the most prepared students?

 

And I would argue that in most cases, these policies aren't.

 

Legacy admissions are problematic. How about we just get rid of that?

 

Important Links:

 

FairTest

Mr. Akil Bello

Malcolm Gladwell Podcast

 

Call to Action:

Subscribe to Diversity Matters and get exclusive access to all episodes of Beyond the Mill, which is my live diversity dialogues talk show that I host on campus at Rutgers University-Camden.

 

Episode Sponsor Links:

 

The PHD Project

 

Producer Links:

WH Consulting Firm

Diversity Matters Podcast Section

Pod Kai Media

 

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