The Impact of Cancelled ACT’s and SAT’s on Homeschooled Students
The other day, I received yet another email from the ACT board telling me that my child’s July 18th standardized test has been postponed - yet again. This is the third time it has been postponed since April. Tens of thousands of students had their exams canceled…and then their makeups canceled…and then their makeups-to-the-makeups canceled.
Yeah, I get it, COVID. I think that point has been hammered into all of our heads quite exhaustively. The thing is, many schools are still going ahead with the testing, just not any of the schools that my child was slated to take the tests at. I guess coronavirus only targets specific schools.
Also, I find it quite odd that they would make this cancellation so far in advance with no back-up plan in place. There’s not even a fall test announced so they can make sure the kids who were tossed to the educational curb are first in line for the next test.
Normally I wouldn’t be sweating this, but my son is a rising senior and has no SAT’s or ACT’s to send to colleges for early decision. He took one attempt at the ACT the summer after 9th grade as a benchmark and he did it without studying. He did very well. Just not Emory well and we would never send those scores. Sure, colleges are accepting applications without scores, they will not penalize you for circumstances beyond your control. However, this negatively affects those that were going to use their scores to shine and stand out from the crowd. This greatly impacts homeschooling students, like mine, who have a strong focus on academics.
So will lack of scores prevent our children from their college of choice? How much will this impact the class of 2021? Why can’t testing be done online? Do we even need standardized testing at all? When they do start testing again, and thousands of additional kids will be taking the test for the first time, how will this affect the curve that they score on?
This is an unprecedented event in the modern college admissions environment and the uncertainty can be scary and frustrating. At this point, in this mad, mad world that we live in, both my son and I are questioning his attendance in an institution for 2021 at all. He is a self-starter, smart as hell and will succeed at whatever he puts his mind to. Is college even necessary anymore? Changing times call for changing minds.
One thing is for sure, like with everything else, we will all get through this and be stronger and more resilient for it.
My new book, Homeschool Happily: Yes, You Can! is available on the SHOP page
