By Erin Mahoney
For the first time in a long time, José Loya was nervous about a test
On April 7, the Pueblo High School senior and straight-A student completed the last of his college preparatory requirements: the ACT, an exam required for admission to many universities
By most standards, Loya had little reason to be concerned about the test. He is one of the top students in his graduating class, a math whiz who has already been accepted to the University of Arizona. But, for all his achievements, research suggests he has one thing working against him - his ethnicity
Statistically, Hispanic students like Loya perform significantly worse on the ACT and the SAT I, the two most prominent college-preparatory tests, leading some to question their validity
In February, Richard Atkinson, president of the University of California system, proposed eliminating the SAT from UC schools' entrance requirements, leading some analysts to speculate that the test - or California's standards for it - was a drag on the colleges' minority recruitment
Although officials at the University of Arizona say no such plans are in store for them, some Tucson high school officials said a change would be welcome
"I would like for it (the SAT) to not play a big role in admissions and scholarships," said Estehela Gonzalez, director of counseling at Pueblo High, which is 85 percent Hispanic. Gonzalez said the UA places too much emphasis on standardized-test scores
Pueblo and Tucson high school officials say the SAT and ACT don't hinder their students' chances to be admitted to the UA, since admission requirements are lenient for Arizona residents
However, students applying for admission to schools outside the state, and those applying for scholarships can be hurt by low test scores, they said
Last year in Arizona, Mexican and Mexican American students who took the SAT had a composite score of 962 out of a possible 1600, according to statistics from the College Board, the company that sponsors the SAT. White students scored an average of 1070
Kris Zavoli, Western regional director of secondary school services for the College Board, said low educational standards - not the SAT - are to blame for low minority test scores
"It's a symptom of a disease," she said. "What
I'd rather us wrestle with is why we don't have equal access (to
education) for all kids."
Eliminating the SAT, Zavoli said, would be similar to throwing
away a thermometer that reports a fever.
"Anyone who thinks it (eliminating the test) is an easy answer
doesn't understand the question," she said. "If the
SAT isn't used, something else will be."
According to the ACT organization, Mexican or Mexican American
students taking appropriate pre-college, or "core,"
classes, have a national average composite score of 19.5, and
are the second-lowest scoring group, behind black students. White
students average 22.7 on the test.
Because many schools accept either ACT or SAT scores, students can choose which to take.
Although they may be interchangeable for admissions counselors, the SAT and ACT are not identical. The SAT I measures students' math and verbal skills through two scores. The ACT has several components encompassing English, math, reading, social studies and science.
The UA typically accepts Arizona residents with ACT scores of 22 or above or SAT scores of 1040 or above. But a 2.5 grade-point average or a top-50 percent class rank are also acceptable for in-state students' admission.
Sansa Morse, a career counselor at Pueblo, said school officials
encourage
students to take the ACT. Pueblo High officials say they have
no data on their students' performance on the SAT, because the
College Board does not provide them with school-specific data.
"The ACT correlates much more closely to the high school curriculum," Morse said. "Students who get most of their education in school tend to perform better on that."
Of 274 graduating seniors at Pueblo last year, 94 took the ACT and about 30 took the SAT, Gonzalez said. Nationally last year, more than 1 million students took the SAT I, and about 45,000 of those were Mexican or Mexican American. An additional 1 million students took the ACT in 2000, and 37,000 of those students were Mexican American.
Viviana Hurtado, a 2000 Pueblo graduate and a freshman at the UA, took the ACT at the recommendation of her Pueblo guidance counselors. But, despite good grades in high school, she scored just an 18 of a possible 36.
At Pueblo, students of all races taking core classes average a score of 19.2 on the ACT, Morse said.
"I think it's just because of our schooling," said Hurtado, who is from South Tucson. "Pueblo... (is) Hispanic and I don't think we receive the same education that other schools do."
At Tucson High, which is 59 percent Hispanic, the numbers are similar, said Annette Schiffer, coordinator of the school's college and career center. Tucson High students from all races average about 19 to 20 on the ACT, and Schiffer said "there is a division" between how students from different races score.
Schiffer said about 30 percent of Tucson High's juniors and seniors take the SAT each year, averaging a score of about 1030. An additional 10 percent of students take the ACT, but Schiffer said the scores for both tests are "comparably low."
But low test scores for Hispanic students may be more than
just a matter of race.
Because Pueblo students often come from lower economic backgrounds,
they sometimes do not get academic encouragement at home, Morse
said.
"Higher academic culture has not yet become a tradition (for students) at our school," she said. "We can change that... It really doesn't have anything to do with race."
According to a 1995 study by the ACT, students taking sufficient high school coursework are apt to perform better on the test, regardless of ethnicity. The study reported that high scores were most strongly related to appropriate college-preparatory classes and high school grades, rather than race.
Still, the numbers cannot be ignored, researchers said.
Some ethnic minority students were well-prepared for university academics, said Julie Noble, an ACT official, in the report. But a larger number of them were less likely to take college-preparatory coursework and achieve high grades in high school, which may have lowered their ACT scores, she said.
Gonzalez agreed.
"Because of low income, our kids don't have the high exposure other kids do," she said. "They don't have a role model to follow. In the Anglo-Saxon race, you find a lot of families who have academic role models."
In some families, like Hurtado's, parents haven't attended a university and must be educated about the intricacies of college admissions and preparation. Hurtado, who is now studying aerospace engineering at the UA, said this made applying to college more difficult.
But there is hope for higher test scores among Hispanics, at least in South Tucson. Pueblo officials have raised the school's average ACT scores by one point in the past three years, and have implemented several programs to improve writing skills and get students interested in college.
And some families in South Tucson, like Loya's, have worked with their children at home to improve grades.
"To my family, it (education) has always been a part of our daily routine," he said. "Ever since elementary school, it's been something you have in the back of your mind."
In the end, Loya says, the ACT wasn't much of a problem. He spent hours studying for the exam, which he eventually breezed through.
"Everything went smoothly," said Loya, who will major in computer engineering at the UA this fall. "I feel good about what I put down on the test."
SAT and ACT officials maintain that their exams are accurate predictors of college performance, and boast research that says high scores ultimately correlate with success in college
On the SAT, Hispanic scores tend to overestimate college achievement, Zavoli said, meaning that statistically, those students perform better on the test than they do in college.
But not everyone fits the profile.
Hurtado, for instance, has thrived despite a humble showing in the ACT. She's doing well at the UA - she has good grades and is a member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, a group that helps mentor other Mexican American teens.
She says she hasn't looked back on the exam.
"I wasn't too pressured about it," she said. "I think it's totally irrelevant to what you do in high school, and what you can do in college."