The College Board, the company that writes and administers the SAT college entrance exam to thousands of American high schoolers, says it’s revamping its scoring process to include an “adversity score” alongside the SAT’s standardized measurements of verbal and mathematical prowess, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The “adversity score” will take into account the social and economic backgrounds of SAT takers, and will be awarded based on a 15-factor analysis, The Wall Street Journal reports. Students will be judged on “the crime rate and poverty levels of the student’s high school and neighborhood,” the student’s “housing environment,” the student’s parents’ income and education levels, and whether the student had access to higher-level and advanced placement (AP) classes.
“A score of 50 is considered ‘average,'” according to the WSJ. Scores above 50 indicate hardship. Scores below 50 indicate that a student is “privileged.” College admissions advisers will access the scores through the SAT’s online score reporting system, in a tab labeled “Overall Disadvantage Level.”
It appears students will not be able to view — or, more importantly, challenge — their adversity scores. – READ MORE