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"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." - Nelson Mandela

Common Core-Aligned SAT Faces Free Market Competition

By Carole Hornsby Haynes | April 14, 2016 National Center for Policy Analysis

The College Board is a non-profit association with a mission of promoting excellence and equity in education. The Board was founded in 1900 by twelve prestigious universities to create a standardized test to admit students based on merit — including the SAT and the Advanced Placement Program.

Now it has changed its mission to one that dictates the use of Common Core curriculum for success on the test. This has been effected by the College Board aligning the SAT to Common Core Curriculum Standards.

In 1999 the non-profit organization was facing a cash-flow crisis. Under the leadership of former West Virginia governor Gaston Caperton, the association was turned into a profitable business — a cash cow — raking in hundreds of millions in increased student fees.

With the testing frenzy that permeates American public education, the College Board is riding on a gravy train.

Now market forces may create another cash-flow problem for the College Board. There is a huge backlash against the Board’s change in the SAT to reflect an ideology. Students who want to apply at an institution requiring the SAT or ACT will be forced to take a test that is now Common Core aligned. Those students who have not used Common Core materials will be at a distinct disadvantage.

Fortunately, students may soon have an alternative. Vector A.R.C. (Assessment of Readiness for College) has produced a college entrance exam for students who have used curriculum products that are not based on Common Core.

Vector A.R.C. is seeking at least 1,000 volunteers to participate in Beta testing its new test. With the rapidly growing resistance to Common Core, Vector A.R.C. will likely have no difficulty in attracting students who are opposed to all things Common Core.

With the increasing number of four-year colleges and universities — now 850 — no longer using the SAT or ACT to admit students, there is going to be market pressure for the remaining institutions to use a proven alternative to the tainted Common Core-aligned SAT.

 

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