Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste: Large‐Scale Assessment and the Response to COVID‐19

Abstract

Abstract In early spring 2020 the vast majority of US colleges and schools closed for the year due to COVID‐19 with no clear direction on when or how these institutions will reopen for in‐person instruction. School closures and the associated health concerns haulted large scale admissions testing and required alternative models such as remote proctoring at home, additional flexibility in test sites and administrative conditions, and additional testing dates for the fall. It is clear that access to admissions testing has been greatly reduced despite these efforts resulting in extended deadlines in graduate admissions and the wide‐scale adoption of test‐optional polcies in undergraduate admissions. This paper traces the efforts undertaken by admissions testing programs to adapt to COVID‐19 and the measurement issues which emerge from these efforts.