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Wednesday, October 14, 1987 / University Daily Kansan
State/Local
Legislature hears defense of open admissions policy
The Associated Press
TOPEKA - The executive director of the State Board of Regents went before a legislative committee yesterday to explain and defend his staff's proposals for changing the state's policy of open admissions to its universities.
Stanley Koplik told the Legislative Educational Planning Committee that the time for discussing possible changes was appropriate when the regents were asking the Legislature to consider increases in funding for its institute of language through admissions of some of the universities.
"It's an expensive system to open the door up to everyone," Koplik said. "It's a movement away from being OK to being very good," he said of the proposed changes.
However, one lawmaker expressed dissatisfaction with the philosophy behind the proposals. Sen. Jim Allen, R-Ottawa, agreed that the proposals were not too restrictive, but he urged them to remember that "your job" is to teach
"We go to school to learn." Allen said. "Sometimes you have to take a product that's less than perfect."
Currently, all graduates of Kansas high schools are eligible for admission to the six regents universities and Kansas Technical Institute in Salina, regardless of their test scores or standing in their graduating classes.
The regents are studying proposals for increasing standards at the University of Kansas, Kansas State University and Wichita State University; KU and K-State; or only at KU
Koplik saidthe board probably would not make its decision until at least December.
The proposals set up three standards for admission to those universities for Kansas high school graduates, one of which would have to be met. A student would have to complete a suggested prepartory curriculum with a 2.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale, score 23 or better on a 36 scale on the ACT, or graduate in the ton third of his or her class.
Also, universities could make exceptions for a number of students equal to 10 percent of the incoming freshman class.
"It's almost open again," Allen said of the proposals.
Kansas students hit test highs
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — Kansas high school students heading for college scored higher on three aptitude tests than the national average, according to a report presented yesterday to the Board of Education.
Each year high school students take aptitude tests to measure preparedness for college. Kansas students take the American College Testing Assessment (ACT), the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT).
Kansas students scored higher in ACT than students nationwide, especially in English, mathematics and social studies. The composite score for Kansas students was 19.3, compared to 18.7 at the national level, the report says. Scores are reported on a scale of one to 36.
About half the Kansas seniors took the ACT.
"In general, Kansas seniors who typically take the ACT plan to enter community colleges, state colleges and universities and small private colleges," the report says. "The trend of the composite average scores has tended to continue to be stable over this ten year period, neither increasing nor declining by any significant amount."
Nine percent of the Kansas seniors took the SAT, compared to an estimated 76 percent of the college seniors nationwide who took the test.
average of 498 in the SAT verbal test,
compared to the national average of
430. The Kansas students averaged
547 in math, compared to 476 nationally.
The tests are scored from 200 to
800.
"The performance level of the 9 percent of the Kansas seniors taking the 1986-87 SAT was up slightly compared to the 1985-86 performance level," the report said. "Urtmost caution should be exercised in any interpretation of the SAT because of the small, select population which took the test."
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"Kansas seniors who typically take the SAT plan to enter prestigious universities, especially private universities which have rigorous admission requirements," the report said. The Kansas students scored an
Also, 39 percent of Kansas high school juniors took the PSAT, and the performance of those students was higher than that of students nationwide in both the verbal and math tests, the report said.
The Kansas students scored an
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