Hungry for Change: Are Video Games the Answer to the SAT and ACT?

If you have any highschool seniors in your circle—your own, your niece or nephew, or even your favorite Starbucks barista—odds are that the ACT or SAT have had regular prominence in your conversations. As they rightly should. Even in the “new age” of teaching and learning, college admissions has stayed roughly the same for the last few decades. In fact, over 2 million students registered for the SAT last year and closely behind them, 1.9 million students sat for the ACT. But, if you’ve spent anytime on CollegeBoard’s website or glanced at a practice test, there are reminiscent of the standardized, Scantron-graded tests you remember from your school days. Pythagorean theorem, mood vs. tone, quadratic formula, rhyming scheme….are you having flashbacks (nightmares) yet?

One LA-based startup company, Imbellus, Inc., founded by Harvard dropout and educational pioneer Rebecca Kantar has vowed to change that. This article, published on March 19, 2019, turns the entire standardized test application component (in light of Operation Varsity Blues) on its head in its riveting exposé of the ACT/SAT monopoly—and how video games may be changing the conversation.

Journalist Romesh Ratnesar argues that “at least as early as high school, classroom instruction is geared to boost kids’ performance on college-admissions tests. But those tests measure what students already know, not the qualities employers and economists say they need to thrive in the future: problem-solving, critical reasoning, collaboration, creativity, empathy.” As a result, the SAT and ACT have become a measure of an important but very narrowly defined cognitive skill set. Yet, there’s no competition—the $1 billion dollar industry (in 2017 along) has no competition. Instead, Kantar argues that “ schools [should be] focusing a little less on one specific set of information and a little bit more on the thinking faculties needed to be an adult.” So, her company has created a video game-style test that she hopes will give the ACT and SAT a run for its money. Game creators argue that this test accurately tests cognitive thinking in scenarios and problem-based learning framework, designed through scaffolding.

The article is riveting and certainly worth a read! Bravo to the creative thinkers at Imbellus for connecting the mission of K-12 education to the world of college, work, and beyond!