In an effort to admit more students who hail from some of the nation’s most socio-economically challenged neighborhoods and high schools, colleges and universities may soon use an “adversity index” in the admissions process in addition to more standard methods such as college entrance exam scores.
The new tool — being developed and refined by the College Board and currently in use among 20 or so schools on a pilot basis — comes at a time when colleges and universities are in continual search of ways to diversify their incoming classes within the context of a legal framework that has increasingly restricted the use of race-conscious affirmative action in the admission process.
While the adversity index is not meant to supplant college entrance exams such the SAT or ACT, it is meant to supplement a student’s application file so that admission officers have a better sense of the educational and environmental circumstances from which their applicants come, said Greg Perfetto, executive research scientist at the College Board.
“It’s about the environment, not the student,” Perfetto said. “In the decision-making process, I think assessments are often overvalued in admission.”
Perfetto made his remarks Tuesday at a panel discussion titled “Broadening the Types and the Scope of Assessments for College Admissions.” The panel was part of an ETS conference titled “A Focus on Educational Assessment: Advancing African American Excellence.” The conference drew about 100 or so educators and others to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington, D.C.
While the adversity index is still being refined, Perfetto said it is expected to be made widely available in fall of 2018 — potentially making it a more prominent feature of the college admissions process.
Using two simple pieces of information — a student’s address and their high school — and an algorithm, the tool is able to spit out an “adversity index score” — from 0 to 100, with 100 being the most adverse — based on factors that range from the median income and crime risk in a college applicant’s neighborhood to how many AP courses are offered at the student’s school.
