Lake County Gazette

As a new law that bans public Illinois universities from requiring standardized test scores on admissions applications takes effect, Rep. Chris Bos (R-Lake Zurich) isn't sure the decision should be up to the government.

"We should leave it in the hands of educators and the government should not be making the decisions," Bos told the Lake County Gazette. "I think that's one of the challenges when you have a taxpayer entity involved."

Bos objected to the theory that standardized testing was racist.

"I think it's insulting to minority groups to just say it's racist," Bos said. "It somehow says these groups are less capable and I don’t find that to be true."

Bos is opposed to getting rid of standardized tests.

"A lot of different variables are at play, but that doesn't mean we get rid of tests," Bos said. "Maybe we look at  broader scope when looking at  at students capabilities."

A group called FairTest devised a list of more than 1,000 colleges and universities that have ceased ACT or SAT score requirements. The most popular reason cited by schools for that is the belief that tests “favor students from privileged backgrounds.”

The National Association for College Admission Counseling helmed a study and discovered that schools that don’t require standardized test scores are more diverse.

 The National Review wrote a story of a University of Illinois math professor who wrote an anthology for teachers in which she stated that math is racist, as it “itself operates as Whiteness.” 

According to recent test data from the Illinois State Board of Education, the number of Illinois students in 3rd-11th grade who meet grade-level standards went down by 18% in the preceeding two years in math and by 17% in English.

Within Chicago Public School 11th graders, merely 23% reached grade-level standards for reading and just 21% met grade-level standards for math.