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An increasing number of postsecondary institutions in the United States have introduced test-optional admissions policies primarily due to criticism of standardized admissions tests as potentially biased predictors of student success. However, the impact of the test-optional movement is largely unknown and continues to evolve amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Using institutional isomorphism as our theoretical framework, we update and extend existing research by broadening the number and type of test-optional institutions represented in the literature. We use 2x2 repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to examine change in applications received, acceptances, enrollment, and the racial and socioeconomic composition of the student body upon the implementation of a test-optional admissions policy. Findings demonstrate that test-optional policy implementation results in a statistically significant increase in applications and enrolled students. However, we find that test-optional policy adoption does not result in a statistically significant increase in the percentage of underrepresented racial minority students or Pell Grant recipients.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented number of higher education institutions adopted test-optional admissions policies. The proliferation of these policies and the criticism of standardized admissions tests as unreliable predictors of applicants' postsecondary educational promise have prompted the reimagining of evaluative methodologies in college admissions. However, few institutions have designed and implemented new measures of applicants' potential for success, rather opting to redistribute the weight given to other variables such as high school course grades and high school GPA. We use multiple regression to investigate the predictive validity of a measure of non-cognitive, motivational-developmental dimensions implemented as part of a test-optional admissions policy at a large urban research university in the United States. The measure, composed of four short-answer essay questions, was developed based on the social-cognitive motivational and developmental-constructivist perspectives. Our findings suggest that scores derived from the measure make a statistically significant but small contribution to the prediction of undergraduate GPA and 4-year bachelor's degree completion. We also find that the measure does not make a statistically significant nor practical contribution to the prediction of 5-year graduation.

We examine a community-led afterschool program designed by Black women for Black youth from a low-income community through the lens of othermothering. Through interviews and focus groups exploring a multiyear community-university partnership in a large northeastern city, we find that the Black women staff-centered community needs to drive programming activities, provided wraparound supports for families, and created a familial environment within the program. We argue that these practices fostered a culturally relevant afterschool program that was driven by the knowledge and practices of Black women in the community. Supporting minoritized communities to enact their own culturally relevant afterschool programs may lead to the establishment of unique programs that view communities as assets instead of sites of domination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]