The discussion and debate in academia over the SAT (and its competitor the ACT) continues. By using these exams for admissions decisions, we assume that they measure many, if not all, of the skills and information needed to succeed in college.  But do they?   There’s an easy way to check.

What if all our professional educators, from K-12 classroom teachers to the most tenured college professors in every subject area and discipline take the SAT (or ACT)?  What if administrators are included as well?  What if their scores were made public?

On second thought, the scores probably should not be made public. 

Marc Prensky

But the test-taking would end once and for all any debate about whether the stuff tested by these exams is relevant to academic success or success in life.  If a wider comparison were desired, very successful people in all fields could take the tests as well. 

Secondly we could analyze just how far scores drop between ages 17 and, say, 37 or 47.  With some serious question analysis, we could try to find out why.  We might even discover in what specific areas adults are stronger or weaker than kids. 

It might answer questions about evaluation in general. Should young people be evaluated by different means, or on different scales, than their teachers?  Should evaluation become a lifelong process? 

It is often said that educators do not truly learn their subjects until they have to teach them. Perhaps the same thing applies to evaluation.  We won’t really learn about our tests until we have to take them!

Marc Prensky is a speaker, writer, consultant and game designer in the critical areas of education and learning. More of his writings can be found at www.marcprensky.com/writing/default.asp. He can be contacted at marc@games2train.com.