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College admission committees have a difficult task. Every year, they must sift through thousands of applications to determine who will be successful in their academic communities. Few committees share how they make their decisions; still, most would seem to score their applicants on predictable criteria: test scores, academic rigor, letters of recommendation, personal essays, and extra-curricular participation. And while the evaluation of student applications has historically relied on a combination of these factors, many colleges and universities have moved away from employing one of the variables which has served as a strong indicator of college preparedness for more than 50 years – standardized test scores, i.e., the SAT and ACT.
Understandably, the pandemic severely limited the number of students who took the SAT and ACT in 2020-2021. Because of this difficulty, many colleges and universities announced they would temporarily eliminate the requirement for applicants. And though the pandemic has waned, many institutions around the United States have announced plans to continue "test-free admissions" permanently due to concerns of equity. The most notable of these, The University of California, has nine campuses in the state. The California State University (CSU) system, with 23 campuses, has also indicated it will no longer employ the SAT and ACT as part of its admissions application.
And though remaining curricular and extra-curricular factors would seem to provide admissions directors with enough practical predictors of student success, another element – the individual student's academic record (GPA) – has also become an unreliable indicator of college preparedness. In 2019, The High School Transcript Study from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) found that student GPAs in the United States reached an all-time high with an average of 3.11. And though students have been posting better grades, assessment scores in math and science have not correspondingly increased. In fact, national math scores have been declining for more than a decade, while scores in science have remained stagnant. The point: GPAs are often inflated and not a reliable gauge of academic competency.
So, how are college admissions committees determining college preparedness without trustworthy GPAs and SAT/ACT scores that can substantiate them? They likely have a "college readiness" index score for many high schools in the United States. And if they do, the score is sure to be determined by factors such as the success of the high school's graduates at their college or university. It's likely also to include a rating on the high school's Advanced Placement (AP) program and students' performance in single subject college-level classes. Indeed, a "college readiness" index would see Berean Christian High School earning high marks. Our AP exam pass rate is around 20 percent higher than the state average in the 16 college-level courses we offer. And unlike the public schools, Berean students who enroll in AP classes are required to take the exam.
But the purpose of our work at Berean is much greater than the goals we set for academic achievement and "college readiness" in our classrooms. We subscribe to the increasingly radical idea that God created our students to bring Him glory in all they do and wherever He takes them in life. Undoubtedly, learning how God knit them and the rest of His creation together is an act of worship that can motivate Berean students infinitely more than getting into a great college or university. Yes, admission into great colleges is a by-product of a Berean education. Still, we believe our students go to those institutions asking not "how will I use what I learn for my benefit," but rather "how will God use what I learn for His benefit?" The English Puritan pastor, Richard Baxter said it best when he wrote:
The most holy men are the most excellent students of God's works, and none but the holy can rightly study them or know them. His works are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein, but not for themselves, but for him that made them. Your study of physics and other sciences is not worth a rush, if it be not God that you seek after in them. To see and admire, to reverence and adore, to love and delight in God, as exhibited in His works — this is the true and only philosophy; the contrary is mere foolery, and is so called again and again by God himself. This is the sanctification of your studies, when they are devoted to God, and when He is the end, the object, and the life of them all (The Reformed Pastor, 1651).
The worship of God is our end, our purpose. Fostering it through education is the goal at Berean Christian High School. College admissions directors around the country, whether they know it or not, are factoring that motivation into their admissions algorithm. Indeed, they do well when they admit Berean Christian students to their institutions.
May the Lord bless the class of 2022 as they discover what God has for them in the fall!