“Our position is you don't need test scores and that individual schools should develop admissions policies that reflect the type of kids they want to recruit and the mission that they have,” says FairTest’s public education director Bob Schaeffer in this week’s episode of The Syllabus. Syllabus host Mark Oppenheimer and Bob Schaeffer discuss the evolution of college admissions testing, the recent trend towards test-optional policies, and whether high school records and holistic evaluations are better predictors of college success than standardized tests.  

Guest Bio: Schaeffer is the public education director of FairTest and a member of its board of directors. He is the author of Standardized Tests and Teacher Competence and co-authored many FairTest publications, including Sex Bias in College Admissions Tests: How Women Lose Out. He holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from MIT.