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I think this reaches down into high school as well. https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/485787001 https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/485787001 So, half the students are A

I think this reaches down into high school as well. https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/485787001 https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/485787001 So, half the students are A students, but their SAT scores are going down? This sounds like the great fashion psychology trick of labeling large jeans as ‘small’ or larger shirts as ‘slim fit’.

thaumasiotes 6y ago
SAT scores have been inflating recently too, actually.
- acdha 6y ago
  Inflating has an implied value judgement which might not be warranted. Because the SAT scores are useful to the applicant, there is a growing industry helping students perform better through practice and training. That’s not inflation in the sense that the gains are legitimate rather than making the test easier but it’s probably an example of Goodhart’s law where we’re seeing a focus on maximizing performance on the test itself rather than the broader skills it’s supposed to be a proxy for.
  - thaumasiotes 6y ago
    > Because the SAT scores are useful to the applicant, there is a growing industry helping students perform better through practice and training. Practice and training have negligible effect on SAT scores. The industry exists, but in the same way that fortune tellers exist.
    - acdha 6y ago
      This is too broad a rejection. The prep companies don’t appear to have a huge measured impact, probably on the order of 30-90 points, but it is certainly the case that experience with the format and time pressure is going to help a student, with disproportionate impact on the kids who would otherwise score lower due to those factors. Remember: this isn’t malicious or cheating. It’s just saying that you get better at things you practice and every kid in the country has an incentive to practice these tests.
watwut 6y ago
> So, half the students are A students, but their SAT scores are going down? SATs were generally going up for years, there being a year or two when it went down a bit and then climbed again. That article was written at outlier year, basically.

thaumasiotes 6y ago

SAT scores have been inflating recently too, actually.

acdha 6y ago
Inflating has an implied value judgement which might not be warranted. Because the SAT scores are useful to the applicant, there is a growing industry helping students perform better through practice and training. That’s not inflation in the sense that the gains are legitimate rather than making the test easier but it’s probably an example of Goodhart’s law where we’re seeing a focus on maximizing performance on the test itself rather than the broader skills it’s supposed to be a proxy for.
- thaumasiotes 6y ago
  > Because the SAT scores are useful to the applicant, there is a growing industry helping students perform better through practice and training. Practice and training have negligible effect on SAT scores. The industry exists, but in the same way that fortune tellers exist.
  - acdha 6y ago
    This is too broad a rejection. The prep companies don’t appear to have a huge measured impact, probably on the order of 30-90 points, but it is certainly the case that experience with the format and time pressure is going to help a student, with disproportionate impact on the kids who would otherwise score lower due to those factors. Remember: this isn’t malicious or cheating. It’s just saying that you get better at things you practice and every kid in the country has an incentive to practice these tests.

watwut 6y ago

> So, half the students are A students, but their SAT scores are going down? SATs were generally going up for years, there being a year or two when it went down a bit and then climbed again. That article was written at outlier year, basically.