Florida Plans to End its Standardized Test. Here’s How College Admissions Should Respond.

Educators and administrators continue to reel from the long-term effects of the pandemic on student success, SEL skills, and bridging the gap brought on by accelerated learning loss en masse. Part of this response is a continued critique of standardized testing, which has led states like California to remove SAT and ACT scores from its university system’s admissions criteria.

Even more recently, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis moved forward with a reimagined plan for Florida’s standardized tests, announcing the end of the FSA and the implementation of a more frequent but less test-based student progress monitoring system.

If this trend continues, how should college professionals adapt their admissions process to match this departure from testing while still understanding what makes each student unique and adept? And can higher education do the former, while still providing tangible career skills? Doris Zahner, Ph.D., Chief Academic Officer at the Council for Aid to Education, gave us her perspective on the broader shift away from the standardized tests we’ve come to know.