While most parents expect their children to complain about the dreaded SAT upon entering their junior year of high school, College of Communication professor Sam Kauffman chose to support his daughter’s woes concerning the standardized test.
Kauffman’s daughter, Allie, was taking SAT preparation classes her junior year of high school, each day coming home to vent her deep frustration with the system of standardized testing to her parents.
“I took an SAT prep class and told my dad stories about the tricks and turns of the test. I was baffled,” said Allie Kauffmann, now a senior at Medfield High School in Massachusetts.
The frustration turned into the nine-minute film “ACT out Against SAT,” chronicling the faults of the SAT test through the eyes of the younger Kauffman.
Agreeing with his daughter, Kauffman said the pressures of the college search often distract prospective students and their parents from scrutinizing the SAT and ACT tests.
“Everyone is thinking about how the child will do. Fingers are crossed,” Kauffman said. “No one has time to ask questions about what is wrong with it. We take the College Board at face value.”
With the support of her father, Allie Kauffman decided to bring attention to the controversy surrounding the standardized tests, and over the course of six months, the filmmakers came through with a finished product
“We started working on it in June, and researched until then. We filmed in June and did more in August. Then we edited and finished,” Prof. Kauffmann said. “I got a musician to do a score. The film has a website, Facebook page and petition page, which was organized in October and November. Finally, the film was launched Dec. 1.”
The film has received positive reactions from college administrators, professors, students and parents, all of whom have gone through the college admission process, Prof. Kauffmann said.
While the film encourages universities to reconsider the importance of test scores in admitting students, BU continues to require SAT scores and two SAT subject test scores.
Allie Kauffmann hopes to send a message with her film and a corresponding
petition. As of February 23 the petition on the film’s website has acquired 620 signatures towards what she calls a “lofty” goal of 10,000.
According to Kauffmann, some of his daughter’s friends were afraid that by signing the petition their chances with applications would be hurt.
“I couldn’t be happier, and never dreamed it would get the response it did,” Allie Kauffmann said. “We have gotten emails from high school kids who are glad to know a kid their age is behind them.”
Kauffman has been a film and television professor at Boston University since 1987, and has created approximately 25 films over his career.
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