Word: whitla
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...haven't really seen the upswing--you have to put it in the perspective of the drop that have gone before," Dean K. Whitla, a Harvard associate admissions dean and testing expert, said yesterday...
...perfectly reasonable that the many prominent educators involved in the fight to improve schooling--including Harvard admissions officers Dean K. Whitla and William R. Fitzsimmons '67, as well as assorted experts on education--should now be hoping against hope that their efforts might, just might have already made a difference. But their delight should not prematurely convince them that all will be well, any more than years of experience have taught them to implicitly trust the SAT. Nor should it inflame to make more extravagant claims. A good statistic is a lot more pleasant to believe in than...
...imperfect one--has spurred discussion of an even broader issue: whether any standardized test. SAT or Achievement, actually can illuminate a student's basic abilities. Many have charged that high scorers on any such test are likely to be well-off and to have attended better high schools. Whitla, however, dismisses the notion that there exist "bright and noble savages"--students who could succeed here academically in spite of preparation so poor that they could not do well on Achievements...
...argument surrounding the tests, then, seems to boil down to whether colleges should assess preparedness or try to compensate for possibly culturally biased tests. "If you want to know whether someone's qualified in chemistry," says Whitla, "you give him a chem exam." "If the color of your eyes will help me" decide between applicants here, says Peter H. Richardson, MIT's director of admissions, "then I'll take it on the color of your eyes...
...could throw all the verbal SAT and Achievement questions in a basket and you probably wouldn't be able to separate them again.' Dean K. Whitla...