The Impact of Test-Optional Policies on Undocumented Students' College Application Process Throughout the Pandemic

• In Event: Social Justice Leadership and Praxis in Contentious Times

Abstract

Undocumented students experience multiple barriers in their pursuit of a college education. One such barrier is the prominence of college admissions exams like the SAT & ACT. Given the complexities of college admission, institutional agents across k-20 systems and select immigrant-serving community organizations play a critical role in shaping undocumented students' educational trajectories (Nienhusser et al., 2015). This study uncovers how undocumented students navigated college access during the COVID-19 pandemic and shifting policy context by focusing on test-optional policies. This qualitative project explores the implications of test-optional policies and how institutional practices have (or not) changed to support, recruit, and enroll undocumented students.



It is argued that standardized testing for college admissions statistically justify the current racial hierarchy because they further falsify commitment to equality, justice, and fair measures for all applicants (Au, 2009). According to Belasco et al. (2014), test-optional admission policies can reinforce education stratification and increase diversity on campuses. The move to make these standardized testing optional in 2020 was to maintain access to higher education institutions throughout the covid-19 pandemic when students were unable to test in person (Anderson, 2020). Many institutions have opted to maintain test-optional policies in an effort to create access and equity in the college application process. Nonetheless, questions remain if this policy change, which is meant to have social justice implications for college access, is creating access to higher education for undocumented students.



This critical policy analysis examines the implementation of test-optional policies and how practices amongst institutional agents inform how students, families, and immigrant-serving community organizations are learning about the test-optional policies and utilizing this information. We focus on three states with varying policy contexts for undocumented students. The Central Valley of California, which is often overlooked in research on undocumented students. Colorado and North Carolina are both states which have very minimal research on undocumented student populations. State selection intentionally explores the varying ways practitioners and institutional agents respond to college access for undocumented students and the different resources, including community organizations, that undocumented students and families have access to.



Data is collected through focus groups with undocumented students and families and data from interviews with high school practitioners (e.g. high school counselors and college preparatory staff like Gear-up) and institutional agents (e.g. staff in college admissions and diversity affiliated offices). The focus groups highlight how students learned about test-optional and if it mattered during their college application process. Family members/ support systems are interviewed to determine the ways in which they were advised by institutional agents while their student was applying. The interviews with secondary school practitioners and institutional agents in higher education brings forward how they have been informing undocumented high school students about tests for higher education, particularly throughout the pandemic and its rapid changing context. Drawing from a critical policy analysis framework, this study has implications for using critical and social justice frameworks to explore rapid equity-focused policy change.

Authors

• Liliana E. Castrellon, San Jose State University
  Presenting Author

• Darsella Vigil, University of Denver
  Presenting Author

• Luis Fernando Macias, California State University - Fresno
  Presenting Author

• Leslie Uchenna Ekpe, Texas A&M University - Commerce
  Presenting Author