BOSTON (WHDH) - The organization behind the SAT is adding a new score to the exam, but students won’t have to study for it. Actually, they can’t.
As first reported by the Wall Street Journal, the College Board will now account for a student’s socioeconomic background.
It’s called the “Environmental Context Dashboard,” and it’s on a scale of 1-100.
A score of 50 is considered average, below 50 indicates a student’s privilege, while a score above 50 shows the level of hardship the student has faced.
A student’s face is not a factor.
The score is based on a wide range of information, from the average family income to the crime rate in the community where the student goes to school.
“I think it’s a good idea,” Jessica Taylor said. “I think it needs to be taken into account.”
Taylor and her friends just graduated from Boston University. They think the new score would help level the playing field.
“I think a lot of resources that kid’s get to have, whether it’s tutoring, a lot of SAT prep, a lot of things that other schools just don’t have that opportunity for, so if there was just a little bit more leeway and consideration for students that have to work their way through high school,” Taylor said.
But critics of the standardized test are skeptical.
“I think this is just a way for the company to save its own skin,” Anna Stroinski said.
She says this is just a new way to keep the SAT relevant.
“I think the SATs are not a marker of how you do in college. I didn’t do that great on the SAT. I actually scored like a good 300 below BU’s average SAT score, and I’m graduating summa cum laude,” she said.
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