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Dartmouth College brings back standardized testing admissions requirement
HANOVER, N.H. – Dartmouth College is reinstating its standardized testing requirement for undergraduate applicants, reversing a change made at the start of the pandemic nearly four years ago.
Dartmouth is the first Ivy League school to announce it is moving away from “test-optional” admissions. The new policy will start with prospective students for the Class of 2029.
“For Dartmouth, the evidence supporting our reactivation of a required testing policy is clear,” the school based in Hanover, New Hampshire said in a statement. “Our bottom line is simple: we believe a standardized testing requirement will improve — not detract from — our ability to bring the most promising and diverse students to our campus.”
Standardized testing has value, Dartmouth says
SAT and ACT scores are a “key method” to help determine which students will succeed at Dartmouth, according to a study commissioned by school president Sian Beilock.
Dartmouth said researchers found that test scores help the school identify high achievers “from less-resourced backgrounds.” They also learned that the test-optional policy apparently discouraged some low-income students from submitting scores in their applications, even when those scores would have helped strengthen their candidacy.
“Contrary to what some have perceived, standardized testing allows us to admit a broader and more diverse range of students,” Dartmouth said.
Starting this spring, the SAT will only be available to take online and will be significantly shorter than past exams.
Why some colleges dropped standardized testing
When Dartmouth announced it was going test-optional in 2020, the COVID pandemic was making it difficult for students to take or retake tests. The college said then that test-taking and preparation were “not good uses of a student’s time, money, or emotional energy during an ongoing public health crisis.”
Aside from pandemic challenges, some experts also said at the time that test scores were not a good predictor of success at the college level. Some colleges like the University of California went “test-blind,” completely ignoring exam scores and instead focusing on high school GPA, college application essays and other considerations.
Harvard University also dropped testing requirements in 2020, and a year later said submitting SAT or ACT scores would not be necessary until at least 2026. MIT is one of the few schools that bucked the trend, announcing in 2022 it would bring back the standardized testing requirement.
“Holistic admissions” process
While the testing requirement is back, Dartmouth says test scores will never be the primary factor in its “holistic admissions” process.
“As always, the whole person counts, as do the environmental factors each person navigates,” Dartmouth said.
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.