Test Scores Optional: What It Means for Access to Higher Education
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted college admissions testing for US high school students. This has ushered in a fundamental shift in selective college admissions in the short term – and possibly forever. When standardized tests are optional, how will the other components of applicants’ files subsequently be reviewed, and with what implications for diversity and social mobility?
On Feb. 2, at 5 pm PT, our panel of experts featuring Angel Pérez, Jesse Rothstein, Ana Rowena McCullough, and Sarah Turner will explain what the research says about testing-optional admissions, how colleges and applicants might respond, and what the new admissions landscape might mean for increasing access to higher education. Anthony Lising Antonio, Associate Professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, will moderate the event.
Ana McCullough is Co-Founder and CEO of QuestBridge, a national nonprofit organization that connects high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds to 42 of the nation’s best colleges and universities on full or nearly-full scholarships. McCullough co-founded QuestBridge (formerly, Quest Scholars Program) while she was an undergraduate at Stanford. For this, she received the Dinkelspiel Award for outstanding contributions to education at Stanford. She continued to build QuestBridge throughout her three years at Stanford Law School, and after law school, led QuestBridge as CEO. Starting in 2006, McCullough worked in other companies and sectors before returning to QuestBridge as CEO in 2013.
McCullough is also Co-Founder and former VP, Content at Shmoop.com, and is a former management consultant at McKinsey & Company. In her early career, she worked for five years as a consulting scientist to the Environmental Defense Fund, a national nonprofit environmental organization. During law school, she served as a research associate for Stanford President emeritus Donald Kennedy. Ana speaks widely to university, nonprofit, and corporate audiences about access to higher education, diversity and inclusion, innovation, and nonprofit strategy and management. Ana serves on the Board of Directors of iSing Silicon Valley, and as Advisor to Service to School and D&I in Practice. Ana holds a B.A. from Stanford in Human Biology, and J.D. from Stanford Law School where she focused on environmental and youth law.
Angel B. Pérez is CEO of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). In this role, he represents nearly 14,000 admission and counseling professionals worldwide committed to postsecondary access and success. Pérez is recognized as a national thought leader and is a sought-after speaker on issues of educational equity, access, and success in American education. Prior to his arrival at NACAC, he served for 22 years as a leader in higher education where his work was described as transformative. He most recently served as vice president for enrollment and student success at Trinity College (CT), where he also taught in the educational studies department.
Pérez is passionate about public policy as a platform for change. During his tenure in higher ed, the governor of Connecticut appointed him to the New England Board of Higher Education, and he was chosen by the Gates Foundation to serve on Forward50, a group of leaders presenting higher ed solutions to Congress. In 2019, a Forbes article named him the greatest influencer in college admission. Dr. Pérez’s work has been featured in many media outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, and CBS Evening News.
Jesse Rothstein is professor of public policy and economics at the University of California, Berkeley, with affiliations in the Department of Economics and the Goldman School of Public Policy. He is also the the co-director, with Till von Wachter (UCLA) of the California Policy Lab. He previously served as Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Labor and as Senior Economist with the Council of Economic Advisers, Executive Office of the President, both in the Obama Administration. From 2015-2020, he served as director of the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) at UC Berkeley.
Rothstein's research focuses on education policy and on the labor market. His recent work includes studies of teacher quality, of school finance, of intergenerational economic mobility, and of the labor market during the Great Recession. His work has been published in leading journals in economics, public policy, education, and law. He has served as an expert witness in several cases regarding teacher evaluation and school finance.
Sarah Turner is University Professor of Economics and Education and Souder Family Endowed Chair at the University of Virginia. She holds appointments in the university's Department of Economics, the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, and the Curry School of Education. She is a faculty research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a research affiliate at the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan.