He’ll be blamed for doing too much, for doing too little, and for thinking that he can swap the Darth Vader cloak of the College Board for the Technicolor Dreamcoat of Sal Khan.
But really, let’s give a major t/h to David Coleman for acknowledging the failure of the SAT. For saying bold words like inequity, obscure, disconnected. For declaring (what we already know at Macaulay) that the SAT is not a reliable predictor of college success. And for recognizing that the American dream lives and dies with access to education.
Those of us who bear responsibility for admissions decisions welcome new, effective tools for decision-making. We strive for objectivity, but we are uncomfortable with giving rejection a number. We do need shortcuts, particularly those of us in public institutions without an army of admissions professionals. We know we are changing lives, and that’s too important to get wrong.