New York Times, New York Times by Matt McGann '00

Yesterday’s New York Times had another article about the new SAT, and Marilee was quoted. Here are those paragraphs:

The director of undergraduate writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has also raised concerns about the test. After reviewing more than 50 sample SAT essays, the writing director, Les Perelman, was troubled by the correlation between their length and score.

“We’re very data driven here, so we’re going to do our own correlation studies,” said Marilee Jones, the dean of admissions at M.I.T., adding that she thought it was unfair to base decisions on a test that had not yet been shown to be a good indicator of a student’s abilities.

M.I.T. will not consider SAT writing scores next year, but will require writing scores the following year. The university will not use the scores in admissions decisions until it is satisfied with the validity of the test.

More on this over the coming year…

At this very moment, I’m in MIT Room 10-250 with 500 or so other people listening to a speech by Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, talking about his new book, The World Is Flat.

MIT President Emeritus Charles Vest introduces Friedman.

A big crowd shows up for the lecture.

Friedman gives a great talk!

Lots of MIT bigwigs are here, including Charles Vest, Tom Magnanti, Dick K.P. Yue, Paul Gray, Alex d’Arbeloff, and many more. And, you can be here too — soon, the webcast will be available at MIT World.

EDIT: Friedman closes his talk: “Go out and export hope, not fear.” A great lecture all around.