Kaleidoscope's Flaws

GPA, SAT, and ACT may not be accurate when testing which student will succeed in college. Robert Sternberg, former president of the University of Wyoming and former dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts, has invented a method of testing the true talents of college applicants. The policy he uses is called Kaleidoscope. The basis from Kaleidoscope stems from Sternberg’s WICS (wisdom, intelligence, creativity, synthesized) and his Triarchic Theory. The concept this provides is to measure first-year academic success. The program is for the students that were on the bottom end of the economic spectrum, students that have learned other skills than just memorization and analytical thinking.

The method Kaleidoscope uses open ended questions to measure characteristics such as, creative, practical and wisdom based skills. These questions are formed by a thesis of leadership. Positive leaders require “creative, analytical, practical, and wisdom based skills” according to Sternberg. Kaleidoscope’s benefits greatly outweigh the cost by changing the collection of students and showing what it means to have a talented student. “Every year that Kaleidoscope measurers were used in the admissions process, the entering class’s average SATs and high school GPAs went up.” As stated by

Someone coming from a lower income or impoverished family may have a harder time being prepared for standardized test. Whereas someone from a higher income may have more resources to be ready for the difficult questions the standardized test put out. Students coming from a lower economic ranking learn more practical skills. It’s not fair that a test that someone was never prepared for should determine whether they move along with their education. Kaleidoscope makes the admissions process more even and less biased towards one economic