Re: Justification for the SAT

[Victor Steinbok <Victor.Steinbok@VERIZON.NET>]

Having just read the passage that Steve McGinnis quotes here, it is
obvious to me that no intent of objectifying the test scores exists
in the passage. Perhaps Mr. McGinnis will be kind enough to ask the
author for a clarification before he quotes him out of context any
further.

       VS-)

At 4:11 PM -0400 9/1/01, Stephen McGinnis wrote:
> In a message dated 9/1/01 3:31:44 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> kber@EARTHLINK.NET writes:
>
> >  Having read that book before I knew I was not going to be in the class,
> >   methinks that McGinnis needs to reread his Sadker a bit more carefully and
> >  beware
> >   of the temptation to refer to a scholar's work out of context.
>
> Well, let me quote from a Washington Post article by Dr. Sadker written on
> July 30, 2000.
>
> "But there is more to these selected statistics than meets the eye. Although
> girls continue to receive higher report card grades than boys, their grades
> do not translate into higher test scores. The same girls who beat boys in the
> spelling bees score below boys on the tests that matter: the PSATs crucial
> for scholarships, the SATs and the ACTs needed for college acceptances, the
> GREs for graduate school and even the admission tests for law, business and
> medical schools.
>
> Many believe that girls' higher grades may be more a reflection of their
> manageable classroom behavior than their intellectual accomplishment. Test
> scores are not influenced by quieter classroom behavior. Girls may in fact be
> trading their initiative and independence for peer approval and good grades,
> a trade-off that can have costly personal and economic consequences."
>
> In this article Dr. Sadker dismisses efforts to deal with the gender gap in
> grades by arguing that standardized tests are the best measure of achievement
> - "test scores are not influenced by quieter classroom behavior."  Now I am
> told that Dr. Sadker argues that when it comes time for college admission, we
> should no longer pay attention to these tests and instead rely solely on
> grades.  This is certainly D.C. quality double-talk.
>
> This should really be very simple.  We all know that male students get higher
> test scores, and female students get higher grades.  If the tests are biased,
> and grades are the best measure of achievement, we should stop using tests
> and work to address the gender gap in performance measured by grades.  If as
> Sadker argues in his Washington Post article that grades are biased against
> girls, we should reduce the use of grades and work on addressing the gender
> gap in performance measured by standardized tests.
>
> Unfortunately, it appears some people want to "have their cake and eat it
> to."
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Steve McGinnis

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