Full Text of HR0049 102nd General Assembly
HR0049 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 | | Representatives call upon the public
universities in Illinois | 4 | | to study the usefulness and fairness of standardized tests in | 5 | | their
admission processes; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, The ultimate goal of analyzing the use of | 7 | | standardized testing in higher
education is to move to a | 8 | | test-optional admittance process; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, There are clear benefits to standardized testing | 10 | | merely being an optional
step in the admission process, one of | 11 | | which is increased diversity; low income students
typically | 12 | | score lower than their more affluent peers, putting them at a | 13 | | disadvantage in the
admissions process; in 2016, the average | 14 | | ACT composite score for a high-income
student was 23.6, while | 15 | | the average composite score for low income students was 19.5; | 16 | | and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, After the University of Chicago made the decision | 18 | | to go test-optional, it reported record enrollments of | 19 | | first-generation, low-income, and rural
students; and | 20 | | WHEREAS, Public universities in Illinois making the choice | 21 | | to go test-optional would not
be unique; currently, one in |
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| 1 | | four institutions of higher education no longer requires a
| 2 | | standardized test score for admittance, and, in the last year | 3 | | alone, 41 schools have
eliminated their standardized testing | 4 | | requirement; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, A university moving to a test-optional admittance | 6 | | process is not at all
synonymous with a university abandoning | 7 | | its prestige, as the standards for admittance
would simply be | 8 | | shifted to the students' GPA, extracurricular activities, and | 9 | | references; a standardized test is not the only way to measure | 10 | | a student's potential; the choice to
eliminate mandatory | 11 | | standardized testing from admittance processes can lead to a
| 12 | | larger applicant pool for universities, thus creating a | 13 | | stronger student body; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, The test-optional switch will be
extremely | 15 | | beneficial to the low-income students of Illinois who have | 16 | | hopes of attending one
of the State's exceptional public | 17 | | universities; therefore, be it
| 18 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 19 | | HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 20 | | we urge the public universities in Illinois to examine the use | 21 | | of standardized testing in their admissions processes; and be | 22 | | it further
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| 1 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 2 | | delivered to all the public universities in Illinois.
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