Due to major backlash, the College Board dropped its plan to implement a single-number “adversity score” on the SAT. It will now be replaced by a new data-compiling tool called “Landscape.”
The “adversity score” was gathered from fifteen factors, including poverty levels, high school information, and crime rates. Largely regarded as discriminatory, the score is being rebranded, but little is changing.
“Landscape” will take similar factors and provide a dataset to colleges to consider for admission, instead of compiling them into a single score. Not only does this create a database of information about our children’s demographics, but it will once again allow colleges to discriminate against them without their knowledge.
The new program will be piloted by 100 to 150 colleges in the coming year.
Overcoming adversity is a common theme among college applications, and should not be discounted in the admissions process. But, colleges already have a tool for this – the entrance essay.
Factors outside of SAT scores should absolutely be considered. Those factors should be offered by students, not a one-size-fits-all set of data compiled by academic bureaucrats.