Idaho ditches college entrance exam mandate

The Idaho State Board of Education on Wednesday formally approved the removal of entrance exams as an admissions requirement for higher education institutions in the state.

TJ Bliss, the board’s chief academic officer, said the proposal was developed in collaboration with state universities and their presidents, and there are a number of reasons driving the move.

“There’s a growing body of research suggesting that college entrance exam scores don’t predict success and that (grade-point average) and other factors are more important, and our institutions have recognized that,” Bliss said. “There’s a national movement away from college entrance exams, so another compelling argument is competition.”

Bliss said the majority of institutions in the country that compete with Idaho colleges and universities for student recruitment no longer require entrance exams, putting Idaho schools at a disadvantage among their peers.

Board members stressed that the move does not prohibit higher education institutions from requiring admissions tests, but merely removes the state’s mandate and allows schools to make such decisions for themselves. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra noted the requirement that high school students take some form of college entrance exam before graduation remains.

“We want to remove barriers, but we also believe in standards,” board member Debbie Critchfield said. “We want to make sure that our students don’t remove themselves from going to college because of a policy that doesn’t fit right this minute.”

Also on Wednesday, the board approved a move requiring higher education institutions to develop plans that ensure students have access to free or low-cost textbooks and other education materials.

The board also rubber-stamped a list of seven legislative ideas which, if approved by Gov. Brad Little, will be presented to lawmakers during the 2022 legislative session.

Among these is a recommendation that the state amend Idaho law to fund full-day kindergarten statewide. The proposal is in line with recommendations adopted by the board from Little’s “Our Kids, Idaho’s Future” education task force in 2019. Idaho funds only half-day kindergarten, leaving those school districts that wish to offer more to tap other revenue streams to support a full-day program. Local levies, federal monies and literacy intervention dollars are most commonly used for this purpose, board officials said.

The move would not require school districts to offer full-day kindergarten, but would merely create state support for those districts that determined it was needed. Offering or sending children to full-day kindergarten would remain optional for school districts and parents. Critchfield and other board members said the move meets a demand for full-day services that is already being tackled by school districts at the local level.

“When we talked about this during the task force time, over 80 school districts were offering full-day kindergarten in some form, and using local tax dollars to supplement state budgets and so forth,” Critchfield said. “I don’t know what the latest count is, but ... this is already happening and, in some ways, the state is catching up with what school districts have been doing because of parent expectations, and a variety of needs.”

With the board’s approval, the legislative proposals will be sent to Gov. Little’s desk for final consideration.

Jackson can be reached at (208) 883-4636, or by email to sjackson@dnews.com.