College Exam Committee Led by Harvard Professor Assails Testing Practices

An educational commission, headed by a professor in the Harvard Graduate School of Education, released a report Saturday recommending that colleges as well as students be tested as part of a revision in College Board testing procedure.

David Tiedeman, professor of Education and chairman of the Commission on Tests, told the CRIMSON yesterday, "I tend to think of our major recommendation as an attempt to augment the data an applicant will have in choosing a college."

The tests to be made of colleges as specified in the report would measure teacher-student ratios, classroom size and quantity, social atmosphere, and other variables.

Also included in the Commission's report-requested three years ago by the College Entrance Examination Board-were proposals for student vocational testing and measurement of non-academic abilities. The report suggested that such qualities as "work habits under varying conditions of demand," "sources of motivation," "artistic expressiveness" should be measured.

R and D

"What we've suggested is that the College Board undertake research and development in these areas," Tiedeman said. "In the past, because the SAT's and Achievement Tests have been so successful, the College Board has not done much experimentation. Other kinds of ability should be measured."

"I like it," said Chase N. Peterson '52, dean of Admissions in Harvard College. "If the College Board can devise routine ways to measure a student's work, habits, motivation, leadership qualities, and creativity, we'll be pleased."

As for vocational testing, Peterson said, "I suppose it would be a logical new area for testing. We've been so damn snobbish within academic circles in showing respect for only reading and writing skills. A greater awareness that there are many honorable life-styles would be both more honest and overdue."

Necessary, Not Sufficient

Tiedeman agreed, "What we've been trying to convince the Board of, and tell the world about, is that the old tests have been useful but they aren't everything or enough."

The College Board is comprised of 1400 colleges and universities. The report is being submitted to all of them for recommendations and comments.