Test Scores, Admissions, and Asian-Americans in Higher Education

• In Event: 523 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 08. Race, Immigration, and Education: Session I

Abstract

The SAT, among other standardized test, is an increasingly important litmus test of admissions to elite colleges and universities. It is utilized under the assumption that it predicts the future performance of perspective students. Social researchers have long disputed this assumption with evidence that the SAT has a drastically reduced capacity to predict the future performance of students of color. However, this research has not considered how this trend applies to Asian-American applicants. Using data about student admissions at elite colleges and universities from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshman, I show that there is no correlation between SAT score and college performance among Asian-Americans, and that this lack of correlation is unique among race-ethnic groups. This study suggests the need for further study of Asian-Americans in college admissions, and grants further evidence to policy-makers that they must reconsider the use of standardized test in admissions.

Author

• Brian Raymond Fitzpatrick, Notre Dame University