Writing on education, testing, and the systems that shape opportunity.

When the headline Parents trust report cards more than test scores — with consequences for kids crossed my feed it inspired heavy eyerolls. While I love new research, the headline here didn't bode well at all, rife with…

Those of you who know me know that one of my hobbies is sport testing (registering for and taking official admission tests for sport and research, not to apply to school). Between 1990 and 2024, I estimate I took the…

It's rare these days that I have the time and mental capacity to read a book. Like many of us, my attention span has suffered in the social media era. But when I was sent a preview copy of Katie Benner and Erica L.…

Once again this week I was reminded that College Board is not an educational or research institution, it's a marketing firm with a product to sell. And like most marketing companies they follow the ABCs as defined by…

In the last few weeks, I attended and presented at both the NJ and NY Association of College Admission Counseling conferences where I spoke to lots of colleagues and friends about the admissions process. One consistent…

Slide the handle to see the second image. Four years ago, I first answered this question , but since 2021 might as well be the Age of the Pharaohs an update is due. This question still looms large and seems particularly…

Not long ago, a friend asked me, “ Was it hard for your son to get into college ?” This question took me aback. My answer: “ No. He applied, we waited, colleges answered. Some said yes. Some said no. There was nothing…

We need to have a serious discussion about what we call a "good college." Having recently gone through the college application process with my oldest child — and now starting it again with my youngest — I've been…

Since about 2022, as the SFFA case was gaining steam, I decided to take a look at the when colleges that considered legacy status in admissions graduated their first black student. I started the project to attempt to…

This past week I was talking to a family about college admission and we had a brief venture into the never-ending PWI (predominantly white institution) vs HBCU (historically black colleges and universities) debate. I…

AI is not intelligent. At least not yet. The large language models (colloquially, and incorrectly, referred to as artificial intelligence) that we currently have are not Max Headroom, Skynet, Sunny, Data/Lore,…

One of the things that annoys me most about the testing publishing industry, especially ACT and College Board, is how much it behaves like the Big Tobacco. And not just modern Big Tobacco, but Big Tobacco in the halcyon…

Recently almost 4 million students around the country received their scores back from the PSAT. I have a child in 11th grade and I tutor the SAT (which is the same as the PSAT for all intensive purposes ) and other…

Recently, the main villain behind the Operation Varsity Blues (OVB) scandal was released from federal custody after a brief 16 month stint in minimum security detention and has embarked on a reputation rehabilitation…

What's Kanye wearing? What's El*n driving? What's Besos buying? If you believe the answers to these questions are relevant to your life then the New York Times might be the best paper for you to learn about the college…

Ever since I was first interviewed for a news story and especially when I was interviewed for the documentaries I was in (both the Test and The Art of Thinking and Netflix's Operation Varsity Blues ). I've been…

Many people believe that merit aid means aid awarded for students who are the smartest and most accomplished, but that's not true. I just spent months reviewing state-funded "merit" scholarship policies and…

Back in 2016 I wrote about the media coverage of college admissions and testing issue. I'd taken to fisking articles on Twitter under the hashtag #hateread and thought I needed to provide a bit more explanation of that…

In a recent interview with Dr. Rawls-Dill , he mentioned Ben Simmons and an example of how what’s measured and who’s evaluating matters in determining success and quality. This really resonated with me and fine-tuned a…

For parents of 10th, 11th and 12th graders, the question of testing looms large (especially this fall as the test optional movement has really taken hold), so let me try to help you out and give you the lowdown to help…

My sons make me hopeful about the future. My sons impress me with what they know and can do. My sons often surprise me. But most often my sons amuse me. Today, I share one of the amusements and surprises. My sons…

I've recently been talking to a lot of friends about how to help their children in 9th - 11th get ready for college. I keep inefficiently sharing the same resources over and over again, so I finally wised up and am…

covid 19 coronavirus, hand holding infrared thermometer to measure body temperature, woman check with high temperature vector illustration design As the pandemic rages and the issue of testing is discussed in a medical…

Brigham tried to warn you in 1936. PE tried to warn you in 1988. Bigham tried to warn you repeatedly since 1990. But, unfortunately, since the marketing machine of the testing agencies got their grips into the Stanvard…

As the new school year begins, I am anxiously awaiting (read: dreading) the forthcoming SAT and ACT annual reports and with them the inevitable exaggerations, hand-wringings, misinterpretations, and statistical…

Recently Marten Roorda, CEO of ACT reminded us that throwing away the thermometer won’t get rid of a fever and he’s 100% right. Of course, no doctor in the world thinks that tossing the thermometer will cure an…

Since the 1980s, Educational Testing Service (ETS) , which dominated educational admission testing from 1940 – 1980, has been hemorrhaging product lines. In its heyday (SAT word) ETS was the Sauron to US education’s…

Since the inception of the SAT in 1926, the admission world has debated ( 1976 , 2001 , 2008 , 2015 , 2018 , 2019 ) the impact of and validity of the SAT (and later the ACT, CLT, CCTST, etc) on the pool of applicants…

As anyone who works with low income, first generation or underrepresented students could tell you, the vast majority of these students lack not only the funds to compete with the 1% but also the “social capital” that…