NY Times article, A Surprisingly Simple Way to Help Level the Playing Field of College Admissions, by Sahil Chinoy, addresses how low-income children are at a disadvantage when it comes to taking the SAT.  It addresses how minority groups typically only take the SAT once, as opposed to affluent students who usually retake the exam.  This is important because on average, retaking the SAT improves scores by about 90 points out of 2,400.  The NY Times article extracted data from a scholarly article written by Dr. Hyman.  His ACT for All: The Effect of Mandatory College Entrance Exams on Postsecondary Attainment and Choice article examines the effects of paying and making it mandatory for all public school students to take this entrance exam.  Dr. Hyman discusses how for every ten poor students that earn college ready scores on the SAT or ACT, there is an additional five students that do not take the exam, but would score a college acceptable score.  He calculates that implementing this policy is more cost-effective at boosting postsecondary attainment than traditional student aid.  Read the NY Times article and Dr. Hyman’s publication below.

NY Times: A Surprisingly Simple Way to Help Level the Playing Field of College Admissions

Joshua Hyman: A Surprisingly Simple Way to Help Level the Playing Field of College Admissions