The nonprofit that administers the SAT college admissions test is replacing its “adversity score” with a tool that will not assign a single number combining high school and neighborhood information.
The College Board had introduced the Environmental Context Dashboard as an index that would measure factors, such as crime rates and poverty levels in students’ neighborhoods, to reflect their “resourcefulness to overcome challenges and achieve more with less,” David Coleman, the board’s chief executive officer said in May.
Students would have been scored on a scale of 1 to 100 based on data from records such as the US Census and the National Center for Education Statistics.
College Board announced Tuesday it improved the Environmental Context Dashboard and renamed it “Landscape.” The new tool will allow schools, students and families to see the same information about high schools and neighborhoods that colleges see.
Colleges have long considered information regarding students’ high schools and neighborhoods when making admissions decisions.
These changes were a result of criticism from educators and families over the last few months. College Board’s announcement also comes after the massive college admissions scandal, which exposed affluent parents cheating the admissions system.
“We listened to thoughtful criticism and made Landscape better and more transparent,” said Coleman said Tuesday in a statement. “Landscape provides admissions officers more consistent background information so they can fairly consider every student, no matter where they live and learn.”
CNN’s Ray Sanchez contributed to this report.
