Matt's Past SAT/ACT News Update

Matt O'Connor

May 21, 2020

 
The University of California Regents have voted to approve a plan submitted by UC president Janet Napolitano to de-emphasize the SAT and ACT, and eventually replace them in the UC admissions process. The LA Times has the story:

[Excerpts]

In a decision that could reshape the nation’s college admissions process, University of California regents voted Thursday to suspend SAT and ACT testing requirements through 2024 and eliminate them for California students by 2025.

The action by the nation’s premier public university system could mark a turning point in the long-running national debate over whether the standardized tests unfairly discriminate against disadvantaged students or provide a useful tool to evaluate college applicants.

Some hailed the vote as a bold and visionary move to expand access and equity. But others expressed concern that dumping the tests would lead to grade inflation, admission of less-prepared students and backlash over different entry standards for different classes.

“It’s an incredible step in the right direction,” said Regents Chair John A. Pérez.

Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, an ex-officio regent, called the vote “the beginning of the end” for the SAT. “We really are the first body to tackle this head on and say enough is enough.”

After conflicting presentations by experts and lengthy debate, regents approved UC President Janet Napolitano’s five-year plan to ease out the SAT and ACT tests and develop the university system’s own assessment.

Under the plan, standardized tests will be optional for the next two years and then eliminated for California students in years three and four. By fall 2025, UC is aiming to have its own assessment. If none is developed by then, the university will drop the SAT and ACT tests entirely for California students and evaluate them using high school grades and a dozen other factors in its comprehensive review system.

Applicants from other states and countries could continue to use those tests, or possibly a new UC assessment.

UC experts will launch a feasibility study this summer to identify a new test that assesses what the university expects students to master to demonstrate readiness for college.

 
Doug Belkin of the Wall Street Journal offers further coverage of the UC decision.

[Excerpts]

The University of California board of regents voted Thursday to stop using the SAT and ACT college admissions exams, reshaping college admissions in one of the largest and most prestigious university systems in the country and dealing a significant blow to the multibillion-dollar college admission testing industry.

The unanimous 23-to-0 vote ratified a proposal put forward last month by UC President Janet Napolitano to phase out the exams over the next five years until the sprawling UC system can develop its own test.

The battle against standardized tests has raged for years because minority students score, on average, lower than their white classmates. Advocates argue that the exams are an unfair admission barrier to those students because they often cannot pay for pricey test preparation.

“The test is a proxy for privilege,” said Regent Cecilia Estolano. “It’s time, it has been studied to death.”

More than 1,000 colleges and universities have gone “test optional,” with the pace of schools dropping the exam accelerating in recent years in an attempt to level the admissions playing field.

The University of California received more than 176,000 freshmen applications last year—including around 116,000 from in-state students—and the system’s decision to abandon the exams opens the door for other schools to follow suit, partly to ensure they don’t alienate California applicants.

Ms. Napolitano’s proposal allows four years for the UC system to develop a new exam. If it fails to create or adopt one, then it likely would cease to use any exam, said Robert Schaeffer, public education director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, known as FairTest, which has fought against standardized testing for 30 years. Mr. Schaeffer said he doesn’t believe a new exam will be implemented.

“It appears very unlikely that they will be able to design an instrument that is more accurate and fairer than relying on applicants’ high school records,” Mr. Schaeffer said. “And, if a new test somehow meets those goals promoters would face massive adoption barriers, including persuading UC and the rest of the admissions world that a third test is truly needed or useful.”