SATs

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that a new study on that most dreaded of standardized tests, the SAT, will soon be published in the Journal of Econometrics.

As you know, the SATs (and other college placement tests) have been derided for years as being elitist and/or promulgating class distinctions.

With that said, I found this from Gail Heriot on the Volohk Conspiracy blog thought provoking:

Moreover, insofar as the children of successful parents do score more highly, the test is measuring something real and not something that will disappear if the SAT is abolished. Such students, on the whole, don't just tend to get better scores, they tend to do better in college too. Ignoring SAT scores just because the children of high-achievers tend to do well would be like ignoring height in basketball players just because the children of tall people tend to be tall.