Farah Blantrice

November 14, 2018

Annotated Bibliography
This annotated bibliography is driven by the research question since family socio - economic
background is the greatest prediction of success on SAT and ACT, should this test be abolished
because it acts as a barrier to students who are seeking entry to universities?

Reardon, Sean F, Baker, Rachel, Kasman, Matt, Klasik, Danel, and Townsend, Joseph B. “
What Levels of Racial Diversity Can Be Achieved with Socioeconomic‐ Based Affirmative
Action? Evidence from a Simulation Model.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, vo
37, no 3, 2018, pp 630 - 657
In this journal article “ What Levels of Racial Diversity Can Be Achieved with
Socioeconomic‐ Based Affirmative Action? Evidence from a Simulation Model “ the authors
Sean F. Reardon, Rachel Baker, Matt Kasman, Daniel Klasik and Joseph B. Townsend
scrutinizes to what extent socioeconomic status ‐ based affirmative action in college admissions
can produce racial diversity. They did this by using simulation models to explore the racial and
socioeconomic distribution of students among colleges under the use of race or targeted race‐
based recruitment policies.Reardon used a modification of the agent‐ based model of college
application, admission, and enrollment developed.The model includes two types of entities,
students and colleges. The authors set up the model with 40 colleges and 10,000 new college‐
age students per simulated year. Students have three characteristics: race, a measure of high
school academic achievement, and a measure of family resources. The authors find that
schools that use both SES‐ based affirmative action and race recruiting results see a reduction
in the academic achievement of enrolled students.

Toldson, Ivory and McGee, Tyne “ What the ACT and SAT Mean for Black Students’ Higher
Education Prospects” The Journal of Negro Education, vol 83, no 1, 2014, pp 1-4.
In the journal article “What the ACT and SAT Mean for Black Students' Higher Education
Prospects (Editor's Commentary) “ the authors Ivory A Toldson and Tyne McGee start off by
letting their audience know what both the SAT and ACT are and the changes that are being
made to both test beginning 2016. They go on to tell us how throughout the history of the SAT
and ACT black students average scores have been the lowest amongst all racial groups and
have been flat for the last 20 years. The National average for black students on the ACT is 17
(ACT, 2012) and 22 for White students,and the national average for Black students on the SAT
is 860 (Jaschik, 2013), compared with 1061 for White students. The difference in numbers have
raised questions on the importance of SAT in terms of long term college success. The authors
believe that since serious concerns about the predictive validity of the SAT and ACT, the Black
community should not entertain social commentary that links low test scores to any functional
impairment of the race. How seriously an individual should take the ACT or SAT has nothing to
do with race and has everything to do with the individual test taker's goals.

Park, Julie J; Becks, Ann H “Who Benefits from SAT Prep?: An Examination of High School
Context and Race/Ethnicity.”The Review of Higher Education, vol 39, no 1, 2015, pp 1-23.
 In the journal article, “ Who Benefits from SAT Prep? “ the authors Julie J. Park and Ann H.
Becks examine how high school resources are linked to participation in forms of SAT prep; and
the impact of SAT prep on SAT scores and how it varies for students of different races.
Students with more highly educated parents, more financial resources, and who attend schools
with higher participation in AP courses are more likely to take the best forms of test prep and
obtain higher scores. However, not all students benefit equally from SAT prep; gains associated
with SAT prep appear to be driven by East Asian American participation in private courses.
Students who have a parent with an advanced degree was associated with a higher chance of
taking a private course or receiving private tutoring, and having a parent who attended college
was also associated with taking a high school or private course.

Black, Sandra and Cortes, Kalena and Lincove, Jane. “ What Happens When States Tinker
With College Admissions in a Race-Blind Era?.” Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, vol
38, no 2, June 2016, pp 336 - 363.
In the journal article “ What Happens When States Tinker With College Admissions in a
Race-Blind Era? “ the authors Sandra E. Black, Kalena E. Cortes and Jane Arnold Lincove
inquire about the efficacy and equity of college admissions criteria by estimating the effect of
multiple measures of college readiness on college performance in the context of race-blind
automatic admissions policies. The author takes advantage of Texas higher education system
to control for selection into admissions. They find that the SAT, ACT scores, high school exit
exams, and advanced coursework are all predictors of student success in college. However
when the authors simulated changes in college enrollment and outcomes with additional
admissions criteria they find that adding SAT, ACT or exit exam criteria to an existing rank-
based admissions policy crucially decreases enrollment among minorities, low-income students,
and students who attend low socioeconomic status high schools, with the most negative effects
generated by the SAT/ACT, while inducing only minimal gains in college grade point average
and 4-year graduation rates.

X, Sunny and Ziu “ Leaving Home State for College: Differences by Race/Ethnicity and
Parental Education.” Research in Higher Education, vol 56, no 4, June 2015, pp 325 - 359.
In the journal article “ Leaving Home State for College: Differences by Race/Ethnicity and
Parental Education “ the authors Niu and Sunny X observe the differences by race, ethnicity and
parental education when it comes to students leaving home to go to state college. The authors
used the college board SAT registration and questionnaire data of 2010 high school graduating
seniors and found clear patterns by race/ethnicity and parental education on two outcomes: out-
of-state score-sending and out-of-state college attendance. White students had the highest
rates and Hispanic students had the lowest. There was a clear rise by parental education with
the students with college-educated parents having the highest rates of out-of-state score
sending and college attendance. The authors concluded that high performing Black and
Hispanic students and those with parents lacking a Bachelor's degree gained much in their
access to a private and selective college by leaving their home states.Students with parents
with not as much backgrounddo not in education do not perform as well.