School and Community Summer 2023

Notebook

I’m not a teacher, but I play one on TV… A new course at Illinois State University asks students to examine education issues through the lens of pop culture, specifically the TV show Abbott Elementary. The course - “Public Education’s Possibilities and Predicaments: Exploring Portrayals of Critical Issues in ‘Abbott Elementary’” – introduces students to topics by reading academic research articles and textbook chapters, then explores how those issues are addressed in the news media, TV and movies. Relevant Abbott Elementary episodes are used to discuss topics such as gifted programs, charter schools, discipline and more. At the end of the course, students craft a pitch for an episode that highlights an issue not previously addressed on Abbott Elementary.

The end of college admittance tests? More than 80% of U.S. colleges and university require ACT or SAT scores on applications, a number that is more than twice what it was in the spring of 2020. While many institutions will factor in a standardized test score if the applicant chooses to include it, there are 85 that will not consider that information at all. That group includes the University of California system. Advocates for excluding college admittance exams note that the tests typically aren’t useful for measuring a student’s potential, and that a student’s high school GPA is a much better predictor for college success. The number of 18-year-olds choosing to go to college is decreasing, so institutions want to make it as easy a possible to apply. Colleges that did not require test scores saw a larger pool of highly qualified applicants, along with more diversity within that group in the Fall of 2021.

8 | SUMMER 2023 S&C