Shoulf the US scrap the SAT since it is the most misleading indicator of college performance ever?
453259
Sorry, but I do not agree with your opinion. Colleges have to have some standard bench mark to judge applicants by and high school results are not standard enough. \n\nIf someone scores 700-800 on an SAT, chances are really good they are not going to get through college. If someone scores 1200+ on an SAT, chances are they are going to do fine in college. In between, there may be room for supposition.
338465
this is supposed to be a ' land of the people '\nwhat needs to be done is more education so every one is smarted here in the USA\ninstead we are lowering all test standards so all students form kindergarten to grad school so we as Americans can get higher grade point averages..\ninstead of making the test standards harder to make us smarter..they are dumbing down America..\nOK if we are not as smart, then there is the possibility for more corruption in all parts of life.\nand of course in our government\nso smarter people in our country would lower this corruption across the boards..\nso every one stay in school and do more than required or asked of you..\nGood luck
59652
This is not as easy a question to answer as it seems. Originally these tests were set up to predict students' GPA at the end of the first year in college. So, as a prediction tool, it measured some knowledge, but measuring knowledge wasn't the first goal of the test--prediction was. The original name of the SAT was the Scholastic Aptitude Test--really a measure more like a general intelligence measure. \n\nLater revisions have been aimed more at assessing "skills" and "knowledge" that might be expected of someone entering college. But, frankly, many people in higher education are increasingly frustrated with the SAT. It is getting very difficult to tell what it really measures and what the scores really mean. One SAT official said that the test measures "developed reasoning" whatever that is.\n\nSo, my answer is that it does measure knowledge. Whether it is a good measure of knowledge is another question. I think that it depends on what kind of knowledge you want to measure and why. If I wanted to know about the academic skills of high school students I wouldn't use the SAT--I'd use a test made to measure academic achievement.\n\nPBS did a nice episode on the SAT and they have a good discussion of it at:\nhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/sats/test/what.html\n\nOne more thing: The SAT and ACT do predict freshman GPA, but they don't predict it perfectly. So, low scores do not always mean a person will do well in college. High scores don't either--motivation to learn and knowing how to learn are very important determinants of success in college.
803601
you shld.  whoever is organizing it shouldnt be discriminating between those who graduated, dropped out, passed, failed etc.  it should be relivening old times.  surprisingly, i attended one and the one who failed is the most successful one - and he gave us all a treat!!!
308040
The irony of you posting this in "Higher Education"... that is the dumbest question I have ever read.
197580
I don't know if you can find this information, but even if you could it wouldn't be helpful.  A national attrition rate is too large of a sample to be useful - State rates and the rates inside individual LEA's are far more important.  In the end, no matter what the Federal government wants to think, education is a state issue and a right granted to the states by the US Constitution.  And the disparity between regions, states and LEA's is WAY too broad to give you any kind of useful answer at the national level.
1100989
A 4.0 GPA is better because it shows that you are willing to put in the work and be responsible on a consistent basis. That is what colleges want to see. A high SAT score is meaningless without anything to back it up.
449030
It's the wonderful public "education" system of the USA.\n\n'tis funny no? Actually, no, not at all.
404566
It sounds like the new scoring systems has everyone a bit confused... some schools asked for all three scores, but only consider the reading & math scores.\n\nHere are average scores on the most recent test: 520 math and 508 verbal for a combined score of 1028.  The most selective schools (e.g., ivy league) typically had SAT averages north of 1400 (combined math & verbal, not all three tests).\n\nSo I guess it's a question of how you did on the math & verbal, and what is your goal in terms of schools.  You can find out what your target schools' average SAT scores for entering Freshmen by looking on their websites or contacting their admissions offices.
564921
That is a totally false claim. The link below will take you to a table showing IQ by nation. The US is not bottom.
975634
The next logical thing for the US to do is close all the schools they are obviously failing dramatically. Sorry about all the big words.
624766
no.  your SAT's will predict college eligibility.
770051
According to US News & World Reports it is a lowly ranked college located in the middle of nowhere in NH that is not very selective.\n\nAccording to Princeton Review, the average student has an ACT of 18 (this is like an SAT of 870) and  a C+ average.
103488
Science scores are slipping in the U.S., and they need to emphasize the importance and generate interest in science if the U.S. is going to stay the leaders of the world in scientific advancement.  Our youth need to do better in science!
440334
Well I think it's all marketing.  College Board and Petersen's Guide, they collect a lot of data on students, tests, schools and then they package and resell all that information back to others--like the students buy test guides and info on the schools, the schools buy addresses of students who did well on the tests, the tests get money from the students taking the "required" exam.  I think it's all a scam but schools seem to think they need some external standard of measure for a student and maybe they are right, who knows?
243822
If it's not the worst, it's certainly in the running.\n\nUnder-funded???  Beth, you are mad!  There is more money wasted on public education in this country than is spent altogether in most other countries.\n\nThe problem seems to be the extent to which two basic entities have taken over control of what was traditionally a very locally-controlled institution.  The first is the teacher's union, which turns upside-down every value that made those great old teachers I had as a child so worthwhile.  They stayed in their jobs because they were good at them, got good results.  Nowadays the union protects the marginal, makes war on the superior teacher (makes the rest look bad, you know), and makes seniority virtually the only criterion they will consider valid.\n\nThe other thing that happened was the federal government getting involved in funding programs that they then control.  This means the local school board has less and less control over what goes on in their school, because they don't dare risk losing that federal money.  So the textbooks are all Politically Correct, even if they don't teach the kids anything useful at all.  The teachers are actually disciplined for creativity, because they can't get any creative program approved if it cannot be used "for everyone."  They are ordered to teach for the purpose of preparation for the exit exams, and discipline is nothing but a game they play with the students.\n\nI do not envy any kid going to a public school these days, but one:  the one who had a black tee shirt that read "School prepares you for the real world, which also s**ks."
441556
By "working" I would say yes.  What does it do?  It gives another number for schools to make a quick evaluation of a student.  Are the numbers consistant across the board?  No.  But GPAs are not consistant either.  Basically due to the sheer volume of students who apply to universities, something like this is needed, as it would be almost imposible to investigate each and every student who applies.  You need something to weed-out the vastly unqualified students who apply to programs.\n\nDo good students occasionally do bad on the SAT?  Sure, that happens, but the rest of your student portfolio should be able to indiacte that the SAT score was a fluke.