4 ms·

Part of the concern was that they were claiming, by putting them into a single "adversity score," that they could somehow claim to measure a student's adversity

Part of the concern was that they were claiming, by putting them into a single "adversity score," that they could somehow claim to measure a student's adversity with absolutely zero opportunity for the student to present evidence to challenge the broad social inferences College Board planned to make from low-resolution school and neighborhood level data. I definitely don't like them making these kind of files on students and I think they should be required to get informed consent from the students--the data subjects--to do so, especially since students are the customers and pay for the tests. However, I do think there is some real improvement in acknowledging that this is a limited metric and no longer claiming that it somehow represents a comprehensive score.

dmix 7y ago
I'd bet money those college entrance consultants are happy about another metric they could hack and exploit for personal gain. People are already giving up guardianship of their kids to get into schools: https://www.npr.org/2019/07/30/746687110/some-parents-are-giving-up-guardianship-of-their-kids-to-get-college-financial-a https://www.npr.org/2019/07/30/746687110/some-parents-are-gi... Since it can't be based on a thorough review of data and people's actual background for scaling reasons, it's all going to be about the initial presentation and gaming the system will continue to increase the more entrance is disconnected from academic ability. Hopefully the end result is less companies blindly hiring people based on their university degree, which is already happening, but there will always be perks from the name recognition alone regardless which is what I guess people are betting on when they are trying to tip the scales.
- Throw_Away_6232 7y ago
  So they change the person who is their guardian before they reach the age of majority, and this does permanently change the persons who are used to calculate the expected family contribution? The article is a bit unclear.
- Aperocky 7y ago
  The perfect solution to that is github and fizzbuzz (perhaps something bit harder). Non-programming job are going to shrink soon enough, there won't be anyone hiring 'blindly' in those field, or largely at all.

dmix 7y ago

I'd bet money those college entrance consultants are happy about another metric they could hack and exploit for personal gain. People are already giving up guardianship of their kids to get into schools: https://www.npr.org/2019/07/30/746687110/some-parents-are-giving-up-guardianship-of-their-kids-to-get-college-financial-a https://www.npr.org/2019/07/30/746687110/some-parents-are-gi... Since it can't be based on a thorough review of data and people's actual background for scaling reasons, it's all going to be about the initial presentation and gaming the system will continue to increase the more entrance is disconnected from academic ability. Hopefully the end result is less companies blindly hiring people based on their university degree, which is already happening, but there will always be perks from the name recognition alone regardless which is what I guess people are betting on when they are trying to tip the scales.

Throw_Away_6232 7y ago
So they change the person who is their guardian before they reach the age of majority, and this does permanently change the persons who are used to calculate the expected family contribution? The article is a bit unclear.
Aperocky 7y ago
The perfect solution to that is github and fizzbuzz (perhaps something bit harder). Non-programming job are going to shrink soon enough, there won't be anyone hiring 'blindly' in those field, or largely at all.