Posted in College Admissions, Uncategorized

Debunking The Myths About the Environmental Context Dashboard (ECD)

There has been much discussion and angst expressed after College Board announced in the middle of May that it has been piloting a new tool with colleges called the Environmental Context Dashboard (ECD) and is going to make it available to more colleges in the future. After reading about the ECD over the last couple weeks and talking to fellow college counselors about it, below are some questions I wanted to answer to help debunk the myths about the ECD and hopefully provide you with more accurate and helpful information that gives you a correct perspective of the ECD.

How can this score measure the “adversity” my child goes through?

The College Board never labeled this tool an “adversity score”. The correct name for this tool is the Environmental Context Dashboard and that is what College Board has been calling it from the beginning. The “adversity score” label came from a Washington Post article. If you would like to know what factors are considered when formulating a score please click here.

Will this ECD score impact my child’s SAT score?

No, the ECD score is totally separate from a students SAT score. A student will earn a score on the SAT using the same scoring method that College Board has been using for years. The ECD will give colleges an idea of how a students score may compare to other student’s at their school but their SAT score itself is separate from the ECD score.

How will college admissions officers view this ECD score?

This is going to vary by college. I have heard some college admission officers say they won’t look at it at all due to the volume of applications they have. Other college admissions officers have said that this tool can be helpful to them if they do not know anything about the high school because it is in a very rural area where they have not received any or many applications from in the past. Other college admission officers are saying that they will take a close look at it along with the other factors they consider. Just to reiterate, this ECD score is not new. Colleges have been pulling information from a student’s application for years that helps them understand the student’s “Environmental Context”. Many questions on any college application is going to provide a college admission officer with the same information that the ECD score provides. The College Board is now just trying to package this information in an easier way for colleges to understand. I will be asking many college admission counselors this coming fall how they will be using the ECD score.

How will I know what my ECD score is?

You will not know. This score is not made available to students and parents. It is only provided to the college that the student applies to once they send their SAT scores to that school. If you do not want the colleges to receive your ECD score, you can take the ACT and only send your ACT scores to the colleges you apply to.

What can I do to help my score?

Nothing. This score should not be “gamed” or “manipulated”. If a college admission officer finds out that people are doing things to try and “control” what their ECD score is, it will most likely have a negative impact on their admission to that school.

To conclude, this ECD score is not something any senior needs to worry about when applying to colleges. There are going to be questions and I’m sure some confusion over this new ECD score by college admission counselors, parents and students, but ultimately, it’s out of students control so they need to complete everything when applying to a college that is in their control (application, essays, requesting letters of recommendation, resume and taking the SAT or ACT) to the best of their ability and give God control of the result when it comes to whether they will be accepted or not.