College Admissions for the 21st Century

by Robert J. Sternberg

Overview

SATs, ACTs, GPAs. Everyone knows that these scores can’t tell a college everything that’s important about an applicant. But what else should admissions officers look for, and how can they know it when they see it? In College Admissions for the 21st Century a leading researcher on intelligence and creativity offers a bold and practical approach to college admissions testing.

Standardized tests are measures of memory and analytical skills. But the ever-changing global society beyond a college campus needs more than just those qualities, argues Robert Sternberg. Tomorrow’s leaders and citizens also need creativity, practicality, and wisdom.

How can the potential for those complex qualities be measured? One answer is “Kaleidoscope,” a new initiative in undergraduate admissions, first used at Tufts University. Its open-ended questions for applicants, and the means used to score the answers, gives applicants and admissions officers the chance to go beyond standardized tests.

Does it work? As Sternberg describes in detail, Kaleidoscope measures predicted first-year academic success, over and above SATs and high school GPAs, and predicted first-year extracurricular activities, leadership, and active citizenship as well. And every year that Kaleidoscope measures were used, the entering class’s average SATs and high school GPAs went up too.

What worked at Tufts can work elsewhere. New kinds of assessments, like Kaleidoscope, can liberate many colleges and students from the narrowness of standardized tests and inspire new approaches to teaching for new kinds of talented, motivated citizens of the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674048232
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	10/01/2010
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	1,121,174
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Robert J. Sternberg is Professor of Human Development at Cornell University.

What People are Saying About This

Howard Gardner

Drawing on his own research in the laboratory and in the admissions office, the distinguished psychologist and educator Robert Sternberg has broadened our vision of how college admissions can be carried out and outlined the resulting benefits for our society.

Editorial Reviews

[Sternberg's] book convincingly indicts the SAT and ACT exams. A single test lasting a few hours, he writes, "ends up having a weight equal" to the product of "years of effort and dedication" in high school.

Fortune - David A. Kaplan

Drawing on his own research in the laboratory and in the admissions office, the distinguished psychologist and educator Robert Sternberg has broadened our vision of how college admissions can be carried out and outlined the resulting benefits for our society.

Howard Gardner

[Sternberg's] book convincingly indicts the SAT and ACT exams. A single test lasting a few hours, he writes, "ends up having a weight equal" to the product of "years of effort and dedication" in high school.
— David A. Kaplan

Fortune