The hairy hand of the SAT reaches far into your future
Test scores have consequences, some more than others. College admissions test scores are more far-reaching than many students might know.
In Florida, for example, legislators have been spending millions of dollars to fund a program that gives bonuses to teachers with high SAT and ACT scores and high evaluations. The tests could have been taken decades ago. Meanwhile, some companies ask applicants for their SAT/ACT scores, apparently thinking they are predictive of something.
Here’s a post about the long reach of these scores by Colette Marie Bennett, the coordinator for Language Arts, Social Studies, Library Media, and Testing for the West Haven School District in Connecticut. She is also a certified Literacy Specialist (K-12). She has over 23 years of experience in the classroom grades 6-12. She has presented how she uses technology in the classroom to improve reading and writing skills at the Computer Educators of Connecticut Conference, the National Council of Teachers of English, the Council on English Leadership, the Advanced Placement Conference, the International Conference for Teaching Language, and the Literacy for All Conference.
Bennett wrote this in 2013, but I just came across it and thought it was as fresh today as it was then. This appeared on The Educators Room website, and I am publishing it with permission.
Bennett’s strategy: “I write to know what I think.”
By Colette Marie Bennett
Many of my students fret about their SAT scores. I wish I could tell them to relax, that the score is just a score, and that they will never have to hear the words SAT again, but that would not be telling them the truth. The hairy hand of the SAT can reach far forward into their future. An SAT score is a brand, locking academic potential in a data point where we are forever 17 years old.
When I took the test, it was known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test, and that was before it became known as the Scholastic Assessment Test. At that time, the top score was a 1600, and there was no writing section. There were no pre-tutoring sessions from pricey tutors available after school or on Saturdays The hairy hand of the SAT reaches far into your future - The Washington Post:
