For decades, standardized tests have served as the gatekeeper of opportunity for high school students across the country. At the same time, these tests—the SAT and ACT—are a notable example of the many structural barriers students from disadvantaged backgrounds face throughout their secondary education. So The University of Chicago’s recent decision to go “test-optional” is a laudable move to give deserving students a fair shot at admission.
While over 1,000 colleges have stopped requiring standardized tests, The University of Chicago is the first highly selective, top-10 research institution to do so. Other elite colleges should look to this move as an example of a way they can better reflect the economic and racial diversity of this nation through the admissions process.
The above excerpt was originally published in Fortune.
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