(This article authored by our CEO Reetu Gupta was originally published in Puget Sound Business Journal)

While COVID-19 has dramatically altered many aspects of our lives, the pandemic has also greatly challenged our education system. Before COVID-19, the American education system relied heavily on standardized tests and lagged in adopting new technologies. Thanks to COVID-19, we are beginning to revolutionize our education system. While the pandemic has been detrimental in many ways, there is a silver lining in this dark cloud: moving our college admissions to 21st century and making it equitable. 

In the blink of an eye, more than 60 million K–12 students in the U.S. shifted to fully online learning.

As COVID-19 disrupted the College Board spring exams, colleges and universities began reconsidering standardized testing in admissions.

Many have long questioned the use of standardized test scores in the admissions process. Relying on a single score to judge complex and unique students feels outdated. This is especially true given the technology available today.

More importantly, however, this practice leads to inequities in higher education. Today, the rate of at-risk youth going to college is almost 30% lower than that of their peers. And this gap is not primarily caused by finances because Last year, $2.6 Billion in Pell grant went unclaimed, according to NerdWallet. These kids never take the tests, preventing them from getting on colleges’ radars. 

Then, in early 2019, almost one year before COVID disruption, there was another disruption shook higher education – a college admission scandal, nicknamed as “Varsity Blue Scandal”. Prosecutors found several wealthy parents guilty of bribing test centers and admissions officers to secure admission for their children at highly selective colleges such as Yale University, Stanford University, and University of Southern California. How was that possible? The rich parents only had one number to manipulate: their kid’s test score. 

Lockdowns have forced testing agencies to cancel many standardized exams. As a result, high school students now have limited chances to take the SAT or ACT.

Could this pandemic, along with the scrutiny standardized testing faced during last year’s scandal, finally end this outdated selection method?

At Cirkled In, we surveyed 1,100 students across the country. The results show that many students are rethinking their college plans.

Colleges must now explore new evaluation methods, such as online portfolios, to assess applicants.

Paul Romer, Stanford economist once said – “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste”. The silver lining of this pandemic might be an education revolution that would have otherwise taken decades to reach. These times have challenged American families and communities. However, COVID-19 may push us to build a more innovative education system. It could also drive improvements in health care and strengthen the economy.

We will only come out of this pandemic stronger if we stand together for the change we wish to see.

Our CEO, Reetu Gupta, wrote this full article, and the Puget Sound Business Journal published it. You can be accessed here.