USA TODAY – SAT is going digital: Exam will be online-only, shorter as colleges ditch standardized tests
Put down the pencils and grab your laptop: The SAT, one of the nation’s most commonly used college-entrance exams, is going digital.
The College Board, the organization that administers the SAT, PSAT and other standardized tests, announced the change Tuesday. The shift to online exams won’t happen until 2024 for American students. International students will start testing virtually in 2023.
For decades, the SAT – or its competitor, the ACT – was required to apply to traditional colleges. The tests’ ubiquity have faded in recent years as more colleges have ditched the exams as a prerequisite for admissions.
The test-optional movement started before the pandemic, but the coronavirus shutdowns spurred even more universities to pause or drop their testing requirements. According to Fair Test: National Center for Fair & Open Testing, a nonprofit critical of the SAT, 80% of the roughly 2,300 four-year colleges aren’t requiring the exam for high school students in the graduating class of 2022. About 2.2 million high schoolers in the class of 2020 took the exam, but that number plummeted to 1.5 million for the class of 2021, as requirements loosened and pandemic-related closures affected the test’s availability… [READ MORE]
Ohio State Reports Its Student-Athletes Have Made $2.98 Million Through NIL Deals
According to a press release from the Ohio State athletic department, a total of 220 student-athletes have participated in a combined 608 name, imagine and likeness opportunities for a total compensation value of $2.98 million since July 1.
“All three figures rank No. 1 nationally, according to Opendorse, the cutting edge services company hired by Ohio State to help its student-athletes with education and resource opportunities to maximize their NIL earning potential,” the release states… [READ MORE]
The Spun by Sports Illustrated: Anonymous Coach Has Brutally Honest Admission On Transfer Portal
This offseason, the college football world has seen players from around the country rush into the transfer portal in search of greener pastures elsewhere. However, many key figures in the sport, including high-profile head coaches like Deion Sanders and Dabo Swinney, have started to express their concerns about the portal.
Just recently, an anonymous coach gave credence to those worries when he admitted that there’s been widespread tampering in college football when it comes to going after transfers.
In an interview with Brandon Marcello of 247Sports, an anonymous FBS head coach explained that just about all college football programs have engaged in tampering when it comes to the portal. He admitted that schools actively recruit in secret before players exit their original programs and put their name in the transfer pool.
Without much regulation from the NCAA, little has been done to temper the early interference.
“Everybody is tampering. We all do it,” the anonymous coach said, per Marcello. “At this point it’s like going 65 mph in a 55. What are you going to do with it? But there need to be parameters. NFL free agency starts and ends on certain dates, and we need to do that with the portal. That’s No. 1. They have to protect the kids from themselves and make it fair for our rosters because it’s impossible the way it is set up today.” .. [READ MORE]
Georgia athletics reports six NCAA minor violations in final three months of 2021
Georgia reported three NCAA violations involving the football program for impermissible recruiting inducements between October and the end of December in its latest quarterly summary.
They were part of six violations for Bulldogs athletic teams reported during that time, according to information obtained in an open records request… [READ MORE]
New NIL Summit Will Help College Athletes Optimize Opportunities
NIL now has a summit.
For the first time in college sports history, athletes this year began earning compensation from their name, image and likeness. This June, college sports will feature its first NIL summit, geared to educate and award athletes in this new era.
The NIL Summit, hosted by Student Athlete NIL (SANIL) and sponsored by NIL platform INFLCR, is scheduled for June 13–15 at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta and will offer a platform for athletes to learn about maximizing their NIL opportunities and network with those within the industry. From NIL workshops to panel discussions, athletes, major brand representatives and even school administrators will converge on Atlanta in an effort to explore an issue that has burst onto the college sports landscape… [READ MORE]
Kentucky basketball to face former commit whose father called UK coaches ‘unprofessional’
LEXINGTON – Almost four years after committing to Kentucky basketball as a junior in high school, Mississippi State forward D.J. Jeffries will finally play in Rupp Arena Tuesday.
Jeffries committed to Kentucky in March 2018, shortly after leading Olive Branch High School to a Mississippi State championship. He was the first commitment in a UK 2019 recruiting class that would eventually include Tyrese Maxey, Keion Brooks, Johnny Juzang, Dontaie Allen and Kahlil Whitney.
The 6-foot-7, 215-pound forward remained committed to UK for four months before becoming the first player in the John Calipari era to decommit from Kentucky.
The situation quickly grew ugly when Jeffries’ father ripped Kentucky coaches in a Memphis radio interview for how they handled the news… [READ MORE]
