By Bellefontaine Nhan | Staff Writer
Due to health concerns, the Practice Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT/SAT), California Science Test (CAST), and AP exams were postponed and will be rescheduled for later dates.
The PSAT was initially scheduled on Jan. 26, but because most faculty members and students will not be vaccinated in time to take the test, there is a high risk of infection from COVID -19 that required the PSAT, along with the other tests, to be delayed due to safety issues.
In order to take a test in-person, there are several other precautions that need to be taken into consideration. For example, students would need to maintain a six foot distance, and Gabrielino does not have the room to enforce that spacing.
Ruth Esseln, the Director of Student Support and Assessment in San Gabriel Unified, stated, “With LA County being in the most impacted ‘purple’ tier, the guidelines are so restrictive that it is almost impossible to figure out how to create a safe environment for testing.”
Many of the standardized tests are handled by private businesses, such as College Board. They have their own policies that they want to enforce, for instance, College Board insists that the exams are to be taken in-person.
AP coordinators and other Gabrielno administrative boards are debating whether to enforce this or perform the test virtually, similar to last year. The 2020 AP exams were completely virtual, however test takers encountered numerous technical difficulties.
According to the College Board, there are a total of three different administration types, and each administration has a specific way for conducting the test and dates for when the exams are to be taken. It is estimated that Gabrielino students may take AP exams in the administration one phase, with dates available on the College Board website.
Since most of these standardized tests have been rescheduled, numerous colleges have decided to exempt these test scores for fall 2022 high school graduates.
“The list of schools dropping the exams includes Reed College in Oregon; Washington State University; and some University of California campuses, including Berkeley,” stated CBS News.
USA Today stated that colleges using the UC system will be dropping SAT and ACT scores completely, even after 2024.
National Center for Fair & Open testing, a non profit organization, stated that over 60% of U.S. colleges will be exempting test scores, and about 57 colleges will become “test-blind”, meaning that they will not consider test results as a factor in determining an applicant’s acceptance.
One of the main reasons for the exemption of these scores is the pandemic, however experts have started to take into consideration the benefits and disadvantages of such tests in the first place.
One of the postponed tests, CAST, is an assessment on the knowledge of each individual student. This test is taken several times, the last administration of the test is supposed to be by a student’s senior year of high school.
The purpose of this test is for teachers and administrators to determine the correct placement for a student. Test scores are also analyzed by state education boards, the analysis of these scores are important for future renovations in the curriculums.
The cancelation of the CAST test may hinder data for California’s education boards and may affect how teachers and administration will determine the placing of students.
