Private corporations such as the College Board and the ACT have a monopoly over standardized testing. Colleges and universities rely exclusively on these corporations’ exams to measure academic proficiency and student achievement. This monopoly is causing harm to students and exacerbating racial and economic inequities within our education system.

A solution to end this increasing dilemma involves the encouragement from schools along with the proper funding for these dual-enrollment courses. Dual-enrollment allows students to obtain college credits in high school by taking inexpensive classes taught by college professors.

The current system of standardized testing is creating barriers rather than opportunities for students. The biggest barrier that students are facing is the hefty fee they have to pay to take these exams. SAT and ACT are often used as requirements for admission, yet each exam costs more than $60. Students who take AP classes in high school are expected to pay almost $100 per AP test. Most students take several AP classes a year, meaning that families are expected to pay several hundred dollars per child each year to take the AP tests. The testing corporations are exploiting high school students, which is creating a toxic and inequitable learning environment for marginalized communities.

DUSD covers most of the cost, or $89, of each AP test for students whose families cannot afford it. The district spent $58,893 this year to cover the cost of AP exams at Downey High School alone. Although this is certainly helpful, many students who can’t afford the test do not qualify for financial aid waivers because their parents are in a higher tax bracket. This becomes burdensome to the families who have multiple kids taking multiple AP tests.

Some students at Downey High School who do not qualify for financial aid and cannot afford the tests have resorted to creating the AP Money O Makers Club to help aspiring students get the opportunity to take these expensive exams. Students should not be forced to resort to these measures and fundraise for these “necessary” exams that don’t benefit students but instead takes advantage of them. These exams are deemed necessary in order to have a successful academic career yet come at a high cost to students.

Why are students being forced to pay for exams that colleges demand? By comparison, each community college course in the dual-enrollment program comes at a cost of around $40. This means that by shifting to a more robust dual-enrollment system, DUSD would save money and better prepare students for college.

Another problem with the tests the College Board distributes is that the objective of determining a student’s college readiness is by assessing specific skill sets and a narrow scope of knowledge. Students often feel pressure to seek private test preparation courses because these exams do not always focus on the K-12 curriculum; and these private test-prep companies can charge thousands of dollars for exam preparation. Since not all students come from a socioeconomic background that gives them the privilege to fund exam preparation, this system in inherently discriminatory – it is a system that further marginalizes disadvantaged communities.

Unlike the AP model, the dual-enrollment model does not assess students’ “mastery” of the subject nor determine acquisition of college credit through a single test. The dual-enrollment courses prevent measuring student success through an arbitrary AP score, but rather through concepts and sustainable skills that are assessed throughout each course.

All students deserve the opportunity to enrich themselves through dual-enrollment courses, but many students do not have the opportunity to take these courses due to conflicting schedules or lack of awareness. For students to have equal opportunities, funding should be allocated to dual-enrollment programs to offer the equivalent of the AP courses.

Downey High School currently offers an after-school English 101 course which is taught by a college professor. All high schools should have this opportunity, not only after school but during school hours, alongside AP and honors courses. All high school students should be given the chance to demonstrate their ability to handle higher-level coursework while building their college GPA. If more students took dual-enrollment courses while having resources and support, they would be seen as better candidates for college admission. It gives all students, including students from low-income families and marginalized communities, the chance to make themselves more competitive to selective universities.

Furthermore, the dual-enrollment program promotes higher levels of post-secondary college enrollment. According to the JFF Publication, an organization that works for educational equity and justice, participants in the dual-enrollment program are more likely to earn their college degrees at a 25% higher rate than the average student. These researchers project that with a 10% increase in dual-enrollment courses, more than 14,170 new bachelor’s degrees would be earned, and 45% of those degrees would be earned by lower income students. No other programs currently have such a positive impact on post-secondary education for the marginalized sum of students as dual-enrollment.

Many students are not aware of this learning opportunity because schools do not spread awareness of it and students are often limited by community colleges to 11 credits for each semester. Not only that, schools penalize students for taking these courses by not offering the same GPA bump as honors and AP courses. In Downey, students who take AP classes can earn a 5.0 GPA, while students who take dual-enrollment courses can only earn a 4.0 GPA. Since academic success is often defined by this number, the school district is not valuing all forms of higher education courses equally. This discourages students to take advantage of the amazing opportunities this program offers.

Our education system needs to prioritize equity. Students need to be aware of all their educational opportunities, and they need to be accessible to all students, regardless of their socioeconomic background. It is imperative that all students have equal post-secondary opportunities and develop the knowledge and skills to discover in which field of study they’d like to pursue a career. The traditional high school curriculum simply does not offer the opportunities to bring awareness to the array of fields and courses accessible through the dual-enrollment program. It is time for public servants, politicians, and education leaders to promote equity for all students, regardless of socioeconomic status in this inequitable education system.

Sadith Price is a senior at Downey High School.

OP-ED: Gen Z for educational equity