You are working as an institutional policy analyst for Whitman College, a small liberal arts college in Walla Walla, WA. Whitman has maintained a “test optional” admissions policy since 2016, meaning applicants are not required to submit standardized test scores to be considered. Test optional policies have been the subject of some debate in recent months, with some colleges choosing to reinstate testing requirements.
Vice President for Admissions & Financial Aid Adam Miller has asked you for your take on this debate. He points you toward a thread on X (formerly known as Twitter) by New York Times columnist David Leonhardt, which links to a study analyzing the predictive power of SAT scoresLinks to an external site.. He then points to a second thread by a former professor of yours taking issue with Leonhardt’s thread. And then he points to a quote-tweet by well-known election forecaster Nate Silver, calling part of your professor’s thread “weak.”
It’s been a long time since Miller had a stats course. He doesn’t know whom to believe. He’s hoping that you can boil down all these technical-sounding back-and-forth arguments. He asks you to write a brief memo that addresses three questions:
What’s the best statistical argument in favor of re-instituting a standardized test requirement?
What’s the best statistical argument against?
Like many small-town colleges in the Pacific Northwest, Whitman wants to increase the representation of historically under-represented racial and economic groups. Based on statistical evidence you’ve seen, including evidence that may come from sources beyond those linked in this prompt, do “test-optional” admissions promote diversification or hinder it?
**Attachment includes prompt with links to the 4 resources that need to be included in the writing. Also included a Rubric for Memo 1 which is for a previous memo but shares an outline of what is expected in this Memo.