I would like to make a text-to-self connection because I have found the article assigned for the Hot Topic Headline for module 3. While writing my response to the article and answering the assignment questions, I began to realize how ethics and the public trust go hand and hand. I considered my personal trust in the standardized testing experience and how it changed after the protocol and requirements were altered due to Covid-19. Although the Covid outbreak was a very serious and unpredictable occurrence, it seems to be considerably easy to make accommodations with the college application requirements. It begs the question of how important standardized testing is and if the results are truly that impactful in the college acceptance process. I was one of the students who didn’t have to submit my ACT score to college applications. I was relieved but also satisfied because after taking that kind of test I questions how it would hold such significance in my acceptance decision. I didn’t believe it was the most ethical way to measure a student’s knowledge or intelligence. Now knowing that other students are in college and successful without having submitted their ACT/SAT scores makes me question how significant that testing really is in the process.

Has our society allowed the standardized testing business to hold more significance than it should? Is the education system letting us down by creating a standard assessment that doesn’t accurately reflect an individual’s intelligence? Is standardized testing ethical? These are all questions I have asked myself as I have seen the modifications made due to external circumstances and personally experienced educational success without having submitted my ACT/SAT.

SAT scores for nearly 800 CPS students invalid after error | WGN-TV (wgntv.com)