Merit or Privilege?: Test Scores and College Admissions

About the Event

Join us as we confront the complex intersection of standardized testing, college admissions, and social equality. In this panel, we will examine the role standardized testing in United States college admissions, as explored by Nicholas Lemann in Higher Admissions: The Rise, Decline, and Return of Standardized Testing. This discussion will bring together experts to address critical questions: Is meritocracy an appropriate ideal for college admissions? How can we create social structures that truly justify merit-based assessments and opportunities? Can improved assessments of student potential help rectify the educational and social injustices that persist today?

Author Nicholas Lemann of Columbia University will be joined by a panel of University of Chicago scholars, including economist and Stone Center Director Steven Durlauf, sociologist Stephen Raudenbush, and economist Lesley Turner, to discuss the impact standardized tests have had on educational systems, opportunity, and social mobility. The conversation will be moderated by Jason Merchant, Vice Provost of Academic Affairs. This event is a collaboration with the University of Chicago Committee on Education.

Schedule