College Board Drops Admission Demographics Tool

Clear Facts

• The College Board has discontinued its Landscape tool, which provided demographic data about schools and neighborhoods to colleges.
• The tool’s removal follows changing federal and state policies regarding demographic data use in admissions.
• The Supreme Court ruled that using proxies for race in admissions is not allowed, despite some institutions attempting to sidestep the ruling.

The College Board announced it will no longer offer the Landscape tool, a service that shared information about students’ neighborhoods and schools with universities during the admissions process.

This decision was made as policies across the nation evolve regarding how demographic and geographic information can be used by colleges.

“Since 2016, Landscape has provided consistent information about high schools and neighborhoods to help colleges understand more about where students live and learn,” College Board wrote of the decision.

The organization emphasized the program was not designed to use race or ethnicity data directly, but schools nevertheless used the information to make assumptions in their diversity efforts.

The Supreme Court ruling in 2023 forbids educational institutions from using race, or proxies for it like location and income, in admissions decisions. The Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Education under the Trump administration made it clear that the use of proxies for race in college admissions is also prohibited under the Civil Rights Act.

Although a recent federal court blocked an Education Department memo enforcing the Supreme Court decision, the agency has continued opening investigations linked to the ruling.

Stay informed as the landscape of college admissions continues to shift, with new rules ensuring fairness and compliance with the law taking center stage.

Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Read more at the Daily Caller